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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to amended claim(s) 1, 25, 27 and 29 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1-4 and 25-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chatterjee et al. (US 2021/0203449) in view of Kim (US 2023/0156702) in view of Jeon et al. (US 2023/0217499).
Regarding claims 1 and 27, Chatterjee et al. disclose a user equipment (UE) (Figure 12 and paragraph 168, UE 1200) for wireless communication, comprising:
one or more memories (Figure 12, memory 1204G); and
one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories (Figure 12, CPU 1204E with memory 1204G) and configured to cause the UE to:
receive a first downlink communication associated with a small data transmission (SDT) operation, the first downlink communication indicating a dedicated physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource set (Paragraph 68, the PUCCH resource set for the UE to provide the feedback (e.g., HARQ-ACK feedback) during the RA-SDT procedure may be configured by dedicated configuration);
receive a second downlink communication during the SDT operation, the second downlink communication comprising at least one of an SDT communication (Figure 5 and paragraph 66, At 510, a packet received from an AN during a RA-SDT procedure is decoded); and
transmit, using the dedicated PUCCH resource set, uplink control information (UCI) associated with the second downlink communication (Figure 5 and paragraph 67, At 520, in response to the packet, a feedback is encoded for transmission to the AN over a dedicated PUCCH resource set for a UE or over a common PUCCH resource set).
Chatterjee et al. further disclose the UE receiving DL packets as part of the RA-SDT mechanism during RRC INACTIVE states and sending HARQ response on an indicated PUCCH resource (Paragraph 64). However, Chatterjee et al. do not disclose a non-SDT communication, the non-SDT communication being received during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state associated with the UE or an RRC idle state associated with the UE.
Kim discloses a non-SDT communication, the non-SDT communication being received during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state associated with the UE or an RRC idle state associated with the UE (Kim, Paragraph 368, After the above-described SDT operation is initiated or triggered, a downlink non-SDT packet may occur in the terminal. When the DL SDT operation is not initiated, the base station may transmit the non-SDT packet (e.g., data/message of a non-SDT DRB or SRB) by transitioning the terminal in the inactive state to the connected state by transmitting a paging message to the corresponding terminal. However, after the DL SDT operation is initiated, transmission of a paging message using a P-RNTI to the corresponding terminal may be restricted. In this case, the base station may transmit an RRC control message informing the terminal of occurrence of the non-SDT packet through a downlink channel while performing the DL SDT operation).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chatterjee et al. with the cited disclosure from Kim in order to allow the terminal to efficiently receive intermittently occurring downlink SDT packets and/or non-SDT packets from the base station in consideration of the operation state of the terminal and available radio resources (Kim, Paragraph 29).
Chatterjee et al. in view of Kim do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Jeon et al.: transmitting UCI during the SDT operation (Jeon et al., Abstract, The wireless device transmits, during the SDT procedure, a signal via an uplink control channel; Paragraph 491, The uplink control information may comprise a scheduling request triggered/transmitted during the SDT and/or one or more subsequent transmissions of the SDT. The uplink control information may comprise a CSI report triggered/transmitted during the SDT and/or one or more subsequent transmissions of the SDT).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Chatterjee et al. and Kim with the cited disclosure from Jeon et al. in order to allow for wireless device reception and transmission while the device is in RRC inactive state (Jeon et al., Abstract).
Regarding claims 2 and 28, Chatterjee et al. in view of Kim disclose wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to receive the first downlink communication, are configured to cause the UE to receive at least one of a configuration information or an activation communication that activates the dedicated PUCCH resource set (Chatterjee et al., Paragraph 68, PUCCH configured by dedicated configuration; Kim, Paragraph 187, DCI including PUCCH configuration information; Paragraph 263, PUCCH configuration information may be information indicating activation or deactivation of an SR resource).
Regarding claim 3, Chatterjee et al. in view of Kim disclose wherein the UCI comprises a scheduling request for requesting a set of uplink resources to be used for transmitting at least one of an uplink communication, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback information, channel state information, link recovery request information, or early termination information associated with the SDT operation (Kim, Paragraph 107, The physical layer control channel may be used for transmission of one or more among scheduling information (e.g., radio resource allocation information, modulation and coding scheme (MCS) information), feedback information (e.g., channel quality indication (CQI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI), HARQ ACK, HARQ NACK), resource request information (e.g., scheduling request (SR)); Paragraph 187, The PUCCH configuration information may be allocation information of a scheduling request (SR) resource).
Regarding claim 4, Kim discloses wherein the first downlink communication indicates an enhancement configuration associated with the dedicated PUCCH resource set, wherein the enhancement configuration comprises at least one of an uplink control channel repetition configuration, a frequency hopping configuration, a demodulation reference signal bundling configuration, a waveform switching configuration, or an uplink control channel format switching configuration (Paragraph 83, configuration information of physical uplink control channel (e.g., PUCCH); Paragraph 110, …the radio resource information may further include a hopping pattern of radio resources).
Regarding claims 25 and 29, Chatterjee et al. disclose a network node (Figure 12 and paragraph 168, AN 1200) for wireless communication, comprising:
one or more memories (Figure 12, memory 1204G); and
one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories (Figure 12, CPU 1204E with memory 1204G) and configured to cause the UE to:
transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a first downlink communication associated with a small data transmission (SDT) operation, the first downlink communication indicating a dedicated physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource set (Paragraph 68, the PUCCH resource set for the UE to provide the feedback (e.g., HARQ-ACK feedback) during the RA-SDT procedure may be configured by dedicated configuration);
transmit a second downlink communication during the SDT operation, the second downlink communication comprising at least one of an SDT communication (Figure 5 and paragraph 66, At 510, a packet received from an AN during a RA-SDT procedure is decoded); and
receive, via the dedicated PUCCH resource set, uplink control information (UCI) associated with the second downlink communication (Figure 5 and paragraph 67, At 520, in response to the packet, a feedback is encoded for transmission to the AN over a dedicated PUCCH resource set for a UE or over a common PUCCH resource set).
Chatterjee et al. further disclose the UE receiving DL packets as part of the RA-SDT mechanism during RRC INACTIVE states and sending HARQ response on an indicated PUCCH resource (Paragraph 64). However, Chatterjee et al. do not disclose a non-SDT communication, the non-SDT communication being transmitted during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state associated with the UE or an RRC idle state associated with the UE.
Kim discloses a non-SDT communication, the non-SDT communication being received during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state associated with the UE or an RRC idle state associated with the UE (Kim, Paragraph 368, After the above-described SDT operation is initiated or triggered, a downlink non-SDT packet may occur in the terminal. When the DL SDT operation is not initiated, the base station may transmit the non-SDT packet (e.g., data/message of a non-SDT DRB or SRB) by transitioning the terminal in the inactive state to the connected state by transmitting a paging message to the corresponding terminal. However, after the DL SDT operation is initiated, transmission of a paging message using a P-RNTI to the corresponding terminal may be restricted. In this case, the base station may transmit an RRC control message informing the terminal of occurrence of the non-SDT packet through a downlink channel while performing the DL SDT operation).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chatterjee et al. with the cited disclosure from Kim in order to allow the terminal to efficiently receive intermittently occurring downlink SDT packets and/or non-SDT packets from the base station in consideration of the operation state of the terminal and available radio resources (Kim, Paragraph 29).
Chatterjee et al. in view of Kim do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Jeon et al.: transmitting UCI during the SDT operation (Jeon et al., Abstract, The wireless device transmits, during the SDT procedure, a signal via an uplink control channel; Paragraph 491, The uplink control information may comprise a scheduling request triggered/transmitted during the SDT and/or one or more subsequent transmissions of the SDT. The uplink control information may comprise a CSI report triggered/transmitted during the SDT and/or one or more subsequent transmissions of the SDT).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Chatterjee et al. and Kim with the cited disclosure from Jeon et al. in order to allow for wireless device reception and transmission while the device is in RRC inactive state (Jeon et al., Abstract).
Regarding claim 26, Chatterjee et al. in view of Kim disclose wherein the one or more processors, to cause the network node to transmit the first downlink communication, are configured to cause the network node to transmit at least one of a configuration information or an activation communication that activates the dedicated PUCCH resource set (Chatterjee et al., Paragraph 68, PUCCH configured by dedicated configuration; Kim, Paragraph 187, DCI including PUCCH configuration information; Paragraph 263, PUCCH configuration information may be information indicating activation or deactivation of an SR resource).
Regarding claim 30, Chatterjee et al. disclose wherein the dedicated resource set the dedicated PUCCH resource set is associated with the SDT communication (Paragraph 68, the PUCCH resource set for the UE to provide the feedback (e.g., HARQ-ACK feedback) during the RA-SDT procedure may be configured by dedicated configuration), and wherein the SDT communication comprises a mobile terminated small data transmission (MT-SDT) communication (Paragraph 68, RA-SDT is known in the art as being used to perform MT-SDT).
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chatterjee et al. in view of Kim in view of Jeon et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kim (US 2022/0312502), hereinafter referred to as Kim II.
Regarding claim 5, Chatterjee et al. in view of Kim in view of Jeon et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Kim II: wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to transmit the UCI, are configured to cause the UE to multiplex the UCI with a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) communication based at least on a UE capability, a timeline difference between the UCI and the PUSCH communication, or a priority of the UCI (Kim II, Paragraph 396, The channel quality report information may be transmitted by being multiplexed with the SDT packet on a PUSCH other than a PUCCH when the terminal transmits the SDT packet, regardless of a request of the base station).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Chatterjee et al., Kim and Jeon et al. with the cited disclosure from Kim II in order to transmit UCI in manner other than using the PUCCH (Kim II, Paragraph 396).
Claim(s) 6-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chatterjee et al. in view of Kim in view of Jeon et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Narayanan et al. (US 2025/0287456).
Regarding claim 6, Chatterjee et al. in view of Kim in view of Jeon et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Narayanan et al.: wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: receive, from a network node associated with a cell, a paging indication associated with a mobile terminated (MT) small data transmission (MT-SDT) operation; and perform, based on receiving the paging indication, a contention based random access (CBRA) procedure associated with the cell indication (Narayanan et al.: Paragraphs 42-45, DL data triggers MT-SDT procedure, network pages UE, UE response to paging by initiating RA-SDT, after contention the NW schedules DL transmission) based on the UE lacking at least one of a physical uplink shared channel configuration or a valid timing advance for uplink synchronization (Narayanan et al., Paragraph 39, TA validation).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Chatterjee et al., Kim and Jeon et al. with the cited disclosure form Narayanan et al. in order to support transmissions of small data payloads in the downlink (Narayanan et al., Paragraph 40).
Regarding claim 7, Chatterjee et al. in view of Kim in view of Jeon et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Narayanan et al.: wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: receive, from a network node associated with a cell, a paging indication associated with a mobile terminated (MT) small data transmission (MT-SDT) operation; and transmit, based on receiving the paging indication and further based on the UE being configured with a set of valid physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources and a valid timing advance, a radio resource control (RRC) resume request associated with a small data transmission (SDT) operation comprising at least one of the MT-SDT operation or a mobile originated SDT (MO-SDT) operation (Narayanan et al.: Paragraphs 42-45, DL data triggers MT-SDT procedure, network pages UE, UE response to paging by initiating RA-SDT, after contention the NW schedules DL transmission; Paragraph 39, The initial CG-SDT transmission will contain the RRCResumeRequest multiplexed with data and possibly a BSR MAC CE and possibly a PHR MAC CE; Paragraph 39, TA validation; Paragraph 38, The CG-SDT procedure uses CG PUSCH resources that are PUSCH resources configured in advance for the UE; Paragraph 44, UE responds to the paging by initiating an SDT procedure, either CG-SDT or RA-SDT. This means that the UE sends an RRCResumeRequest message).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Chatterjee et al., Kim and Jeon et al. with the cited disclosure form Narayanan et al. in order to support transmissions of small data payloads in the downlink (Narayanan et al., Paragraph 40).
Regarding claim 8, Narayanan et al. disclose wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to transmit the RRC resume request, are configured to cause the UE to multiplex, with an uplink communication, at least one of an RRC resume cause indication or a UE identifier (ID) associated with the MT-SDT operation or the MO-SDT operation, and wherein the uplink communication comprises an RRC message or a medium access control control element (MAC CE) carrying additional data and control information (Paragraph 39, The initial CG-SDT transmission will contain the RRCResumeRequest multiplexed with data and possibly a BSR MAC CE and possibly a PHR MAC CE; Paragraph 44, UE responds to the paging by initiating an SDT procedure, either CG-SDT or RA-SDT. This means that the UE sends an RRCResumeRequest message).
Regarding claim 9, Kim discloses wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to multiplex, with the uplink communication, the at least one of the RRC resume cause indication or the UE ID, are configured to cause the UE to multiplex, with the RRC message, only one RRC resume cause indication and the UE ID (Paragraphs 196, 234, 242, a terminal identifier in an RRC resume request message; Paragraph 257, the RA payload of the RA MSG-A may include one or more among the identifier, capability, property, mobility state, and location information of the terminal, a cause for attempting the access procedure).
Regarding claim 10, Kim discloses wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to multiplex, with the uplink communication, the at least one of the RRC resume cause indication or the UE ID, are configured to cause the UE to multiplex, with the RRC message, only the UE ID (Paragraphs 196, 234, 242, a terminal identifier in an RRC resume request message; Paragraph 257, the RA payload of the RA MSG-A may include one or more among the identifier, capability, property, mobility state, and location information of the terminal, a cause for attempting the access procedure).
Regarding claim 11, Chatterjee et al. and Narayanan et al. disclose wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to receive the first downlink communication, are configured to cause the UE to receive the first downlink communication after transmitting the at least one of the RRC resume request or the UE ID (Narayanan et al., Paragraph 44, UE responds to the paging by initiating an SDT procedure, either CG-SDT or RA-SDT. This means that the UE sends an RRCResumeRequest message; Paragraph 45, The NW (after contention resolution in case of RA-SDT) schedules a DL transmission including the data that triggered the MT-SDT procedure), and wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to transmit hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback information using the dedicated PUCCH resource set or a common PUCCH resource set configured by system information (Chatterjee et al., Figure 5 and paragraph 67, At 520, in response to the packet, a feedback is encoded for transmission to the AN over a dedicated PUCCH resource set for a UE or over a common PUCCH resource set).
Regarding claim 12, Kim discloses wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to transmit the HARQ feedback information, are configured to cause the UE to multiplex the HARQ feedback information with at least one of a buffer status report, a scheduling request, or UE assistance information (Paragraph 329, the terminal may transmit HARQ feedback information and/or control information for the received DL SDT packet through uplink (S805). Here, the control information may indicate a measurement result of the radio channel quality, CQI for downlink scheduling, information on uplink data occurrence (e.g., BSR, uplink SDT request, etc.), assistant information of the terminal, preference information of the terminal, and/or the like).
Regarding claim 13, Chatterjee et al. and Narayanan et al. disclose wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to transmit the HARQ feedback information, are configured to cause the UE to transmit a UCI communication using the dedicated PUCCH resource set or the common PUCCH resource set, in response to receiving the first downlink communication (Chatterjee et al., Figure 5 and paragraph 67, At 520, in response to the packet, a feedback is encoded for transmission to the AN over a dedicated PUCCH resource set for a UE or over a common PUCCH resource set) or an additional downlink communication associated with the MT-SDT operation, the MO-SDT and non-SDT scheduled with at least one of a unique UE ID or a UE group ID (Narayanan et al., Paragraph 44, UE responds to the paging by initiating an SDT procedure, either CG-SDT or RA-SDT. This means that the UE sends an RRCResumeRequest message; Paragraph 45, The NW (after contention resolution in case of RA-SDT) schedules a DL transmission including the data that triggered the MT-SDT procedure).
Regarding claim 14, Chatterjee et al. and Kim disclose wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to receive the first downlink communication, are configured to cause the UE to receive the first downlink communication (Kim, Figure 6 and paragraph 198, step S606, terminal receiving from base station after CBRA procedure) based on transmitting at least one of the HARQ feedback information in response to a contention resolution message of a contention based random access (CBRA) procedure (Kim, Figure 6 and paragraphs 191-197, CBRA procedure and HARQ feedback in steps S603-S605) using the common PUCCH resource set configured by system information, the RRC resume request, a buffer status report, or UE assistance information (Kim, Paragraph 196, PUCCH resource indicator in CBRA procedure of figure 6; Paragraph 329, the terminal may transmit HARQ feedback information and/or control information for the received DL SDT packet through uplink (S805). Here, the control information may indicate a measurement result of the radio channel quality, CQI for downlink scheduling, information on uplink data occurrence (e.g., BSR, uplink SDT request, etc.), assistant information of the terminal, preference information of the terminal, and/or the like; Chatterjee et al., Figure 5 and paragraph 67, At 520, in response to the packet, a feedback is encoded for transmission to the AN over a dedicated PUCCH resource set for a UE or over a common PUCCH resource set).
Regarding claim 15, Chatterjee et al. and Kim disclose wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to receive the second downlink communication based on transmitting at least one of the HARQ feedback using the common PUCCH resource set configured by system information, the RRC resume request, a buffer status report, or UE assistance information (Kim, Paragraph 329, the terminal may transmit HARQ feedback information and/or control information for the received DL SDT packet through uplink (S805). Here, the control information may indicate a measurement result of the radio channel quality, CQI for downlink scheduling, information on uplink data occurrence (e.g., BSR, uplink SDT request, etc.), assistant information of the terminal, preference information of the terminal, and/or the like; Chatterjee et al., Figure 5 and paragraph 67, At 520, in response to the packet, a feedback is encoded for transmission to the AN over a dedicated PUCCH resource set for a UE or over a common PUCCH resource set).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 16-24 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: regarding claim 16 (with further dependent claims 17-24), the prior art discloses CG-SDT operation but does not disclose or adequately suggest the first downlink communication indicating CG associated with SDT operation or CG activation, the UE transmitting, based on being configured with valid CG PUSCH occasions with associated DMRS resource and valid timing advance and further based on one of priority, size, volume, power measurement, mobility, or power saving configuration, a RRC resume request associated with MT-SDT or MO-SDT.
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.
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/OTIS L THOMPSON, JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477
March 21, 2026