DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . This Office Action is in response to the submission filed 2026-05-22 (herein referred to as the Reply) where claim(s) 16, 18, 21, 23 are pending for consideration.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 identified above has been entered.
35 USC §103 - Claim Rejections
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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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 non-obviousness.
Claim(s) is/are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LEE_029 (US20200205029) in view of LI_092 (US20230354092)
Claim(s) 16, 21
LEE_029 teaches
generating a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), UE or IAB node, generates a BSR MAC CE and transmits it to a network node which can be embodied as a base station. <FIG(s). 12, 15; para. 0061, 0255-0261, 0291-0295>.
wherein the BSR MAC CE includes
a logical channel group (LCG) field
buffer size fields with each buffer size field comprising one octet and indicating a total amount of data available for transmission associated with a respective LCG indicated in the LCG field; and Buffer size fields 1-m correspond to a respective LCG in the BSR. <FIG(s). 13a, 13b, 13c; para. 0266-0268, 0279-0282>.
transmitting, to a base station, the BSR MAC CE, UE or IAB node, generates a BSR MAC CE and transmits it to a network node which can be embodied as a base station. <FIG(s). 12, 15; para. 0061, 0255-0261, 0291-0295>.
LEE_029 does not explicitly teach
wherein the BSR MAC CE includes
a logical channel group (LCG) field comprising more than two octets for indicating whether or not each LCG within a set of more than 16 LCGs has data available for transmission, and
wherein an extended logical channel ID (eLCID) included in a MAC subheader of the BSR MAC CE is used to identify a format of the BSR MAC CE for the IAB node.
However in a similar endeavor, LI_092 teaches
a logical channel group (LCG) field comprising more than two octets for indicating whether or not each LCG within a set of more than 16 LCGs has data available for transmission, and For a set of 64 LCG, an LCG field 8 octet long is used in BSR MAC CE to report buffer information. <FIG(s). 6; para. 0094-0111>.
wherein an extended logical channel ID (eLCID) included in a MAC subheader of the BSR MAC CE is used to identify a format of the BSR MAC CE for the IAB node. Extended logical channel identity (eLCID) may be used to identify whether the first buffer status report MAC CE is a buffer status report MAC CE or a truncated buffer status report MAC CE. The different types of buffer reports can be considered a format. eLCID header are implicitly, by 3GGP specification, located in MAC subheader <para. 0103-0105>.
Before the effective filing date of the claim invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art to have modified the system/techniques disclosed by LEE_029 with the embodiment(s) disclosed by LI_092. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to provide improved buffer status reporting techniques for logical channel groups <para. 0035>.
Claim(s) 18, 23
LEE_029 does not explicitly teach
wherein the format of the BSR MAC CE comprising the LCG field of more than two octets is supported by the IAB node.
However in a similar endeavor, LI_092 teaches
wherein the format of the BSR MAC CE comprising the LCG field of more than two octets is supported by the IAB node. For a set of 64 LCG, an LCG field 8 octet long is used in BSR MAC CE to report buffer information. Embodiments are applicable to IAB nodes. <FIG(s). 6; para. 0094-0111, Abstract>.
Before the effective filing date of the claim invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art to have modified the system/techniques disclosed by LEE_029 with the embodiment(s) disclosed by LI_092. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to provide improved buffer status reporting techniques for logical channel groups <para. 0035>.
Response to Arguments
The following arguments in the Reply have been fully considered but they are not persuasive:
LI_092 teaches an LCG field larger than 2 octets as discussed herein in the prior rejections in at least as demonstrated by FIG 6 of LI_092.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDRE TACDIRAN whose telephone number is 571-272-1717. The examiner can normally be reached on M-TH, 10-5PM EST. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached on 571-270-1215. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANDRE TACDIRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
