DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114.
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/24/2025 has been entered.
The amendment filed on 12/24/2025 has been acknowledged.
Amendment Summary
Claims 1 and 2 are amended.
Claim 6 is cancelled.
Response to Arguments/Amendment
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims #1-5 have been considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant respectfully submits independent claim 1 is patentable over the cited references because the cited references, whether considered alone or in combination, do not teach or suggest every feature that is claimed wherein the first information indicating whether the UE is allowed to initiate an early data transmission (EDT), the second information indicating a first size, and the third information indicating that the UE is allowed to transmit a small uplink data
Examiner respectfully disagrees with applicant remarks and arguments as Ronneke teaches that the first the UE is configured to send small data in control plane that is monitored through an ACF and through subscription (Emphasis) (See [0010-0012]; a UE received an admission control function (ACF) for regulating the transmission of uplink user data is implemented in the WCD. UE is subject to blocking of uplink data is at the source in the CioT device before using any radio resources depends on network subscription and amount data transmitted). Meaning that a UE is allowed to transmit small user data in the control plane before even getting resources to send data through user plane (See [0006-0007]; [0027-0028]).First information received through configuration, allowed UE to send data though control plane but this data is also monitored not to exceed amount. Core Network send information to UE through RAN or Base Station (See [0006-0007]; [0035-0038]; In an inactive state configuration process, the eNB may configure a buffer size and an RSRP threshold for determining a data transmission mode in the UE). This additional configuration for monitoring and control the amount of data and transmission of small uplink data to the network can be achieved through RACH as taught by RYOO where control message is exchanged between UE and network device during initial access to a wireless network. RACH is one of the art access control that can be used by a UE to get configured for initial access and uplink data transmission at the same time (See RYOO [Abstract]; [0551-0553]; [0707-0708]). UE needs to be configured to initiate any access to a network through a base station which is a RAN. Whether a UE can initial a first process is checked by the network for conformance type and associated with type of subscription (See Ronneke [0006-0007]; [0036-0038]; The network also needs to check uplink admission if a WCD for some reason does not police itself (i.e., is "non-conformant"). Non-conformant terminal implementations shall not have an advantage compared to conformant terminals.) One configuration is to allow UE to transmit data in control plane and additional configuration is to monitor and control transmission of amount of data in the control plane.
The second information received is also taught by Ronneke in term of a maximum size threshold added to the amount of data that can be transmitted in the control plane. Overload occurrence is suppressed by monitoring, regulating and blocking if needed the amount data that area transmitted in the control plane (See [0011-0012]; [00270028]; [0035-0038]; operator can configure different subscription plans for different
CloT devices based on number of small data transmissions or packets per time unit, data size, inter-arrival time and similar.) .
The third information received is also taught by Ronneke in term of description of small uplink data transmission usually perform by CIOT devices (See [0006-0007]; [00027-0028]; Allowed CIOT devices to transmit small uplink data).
All 3 information as cited in the claim are related to configuration received by the UE to be allowed to transmit small sizable data in a control plane message. Ronneke described allowance to transmit in control plane in [0006-0007]) and monitoring procedure to control small data with admittance information clearly described in ([0010-0011]; [0027-0028]; [0035-0038]; There is proposal to allow WCDs (e.g., CioT devices) to transmit a small amount of uplink user data by including such small user data in a control plane message). Early data transmission is a procedure where the UE is allowed to send small amount of data through the control plane. Ronneke teaches about the small amount of data but fails to explicitly recite that the small amount of data is transmitted through Random access channel procedure. Ryoo teaches about the UE EDT configuration to transmit small amount of data in RACH (See [0551-0553]; [0663-0668]).
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.
Claim(s) 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Ronneke (US 2017/0048746 A1) in view of RYOO (US 2020/0037345 A1).
Regarding Claims 1, 2
Ronneke discloses a method performed by a user equipment (UE) (Fig.1(101x)),
the method comprising:
receiving, from a radio access network node (Fig.1(104)), first information (See [0010]; [0028]; [0038]; a WCD device may receive configuration to initiate process), second information (See [0012]; [0027-0028]; a network operator can configure different subscription plans for different CloT devices based on number of small data transmissions or packets per time unit, data size, inter-arrival time and similar) and third information (See [0027-0028]; Allow WCDs (e.g., CioT devices) to transmit a small amount of uplink user data by including such small user data in a control plane message and transmitting the control plane message to a core network node via a radio access network (RAN)), the first information indicating whether the UE is allowed to initiate a small data transmission (See [0010]; [0027-0028]; admittance information comprised control information to transmit data), the second information indicating a first size (See [0012]; [0028]; a network operator can configure different subscription plans for different CloT devices based on number of small data transmissions or packets per time unit, data size, inter- arrival time and similar), and the third information indicating that the UE is allowed to transmit a small uplink data (See [0027-0028]; Allow WCDs (e.g., CioT devices) to transmit a small amount of uplink user data by including such small user data in a control plane message and transmitting the control plane message to a core network node via a radio access network (RAN)); and transmitting, to the access network node, the uplink data in a message (See [0049-0050]; MT send UL user data to the BS) during an access procedure, in a case where the first information indicates that the UE is allowed to initiate the small data transmission (See [0010]; [0028]; [0049)),
a size of an uplink data is smaller than the first size indicated by the second information (See [0010]; [0028]; [0049]), and the third information indicates that the UE is allowed to transmit the small uplink data second information (See [0010]; [0028]; [0049)).
But Ronneke fails to explicitly recite about
The UE receiving first information indicating whether the UE is allowed to initiate an early data transmission (EDT) and that the uplink message is transmitted during an random access procedure.
However in analogous art,
RYOO teaches about a UE, transmitting uplink data during RACH procedure (See [0551-0553]; [0707-0708)).
Ronneke and Ryoo are analogous art because they all pertain to radio access communication technology. Ronneke teaches about a UE receiving configuration to from a network node to transmit sizable data during an access procedure. RYOO teaches about a UE, transmitting uplink early data transmission during RACH procedure. Ronneke could have used RYOO features for initial connection and transmission of uplink data in a wireless network system. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of the filing of the application to combine Ryoo and Ronneke as to obtain an efficient wireless access network system.
Regarding Claim 3,
Ronneke and Ryoo teach all the features with respect to Claim 1 and Ryoo further teaches
wherein the first information is broadcast from the access network node (See [0551-0553]; PRACH preamble is partitioned according to whether to transmit UL data (Early Data Transmission: EDT), the configuration).
Regarding Claim 4,
Ronneke and Ryoo teach all the features with respect to Claim 1 and Ryoo further teaches
transmitting the uplink data using a message 5 (See [0752-0753]; UE may transmit the BSR and transmit data through MSG5 by receiving UL grant based on the corresponding BSR)
in a case where the size of the uplink data exceeds the first size indicated
by the second information (See [0752-0753]; in case first size message is greater than threshold).
Regarding Claim 5,
Ronneke and Ryoo teach all the features with respect to Claim 1 and RYOO further teaches
transmitting the uplink data using a data transmission via a User plane (See [0711- 0713]; transmit data in UP when UE transition to RRC active state). in a case where the size of the uplink data exceeds the first size indicated by the second information (See [0711-0713]; If the UE buffer size is larger than the buffer size threshold for MSG5 (T_thresold_MSG5), data and BSR may be transmitted through MSG3, data may be transmitted through MSG5, and an RRC response (resume) may be transmitted through MSG6 in step 3911) .
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GARY LAFONTANT whose telephone number is (571)272-3037. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00AM -5:00PM. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Lester Kincaid can be reached on 571-272-7922. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https:/Awww.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent- center for more information about Patent Center and https:/Awww.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/GARY LAFONTANT/
Examiner, Art Unit 2646