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 Amendment
Amendments filed on 05/26/2026 are entered for prosecution. Claims 47 and 67-75 remain pending in the application. The amendments change the scopes of the previously presented claims. New grounds of rejections are applied to the amended claims and the current Office Action is made FINAL as necessitated by the claim amendments.
Applicant’s amendments to the claims have overcome each and every objection in the claims previously set forth in the Non-Final Office Action.
Applicant’s amendments to the claims have overcome each and every rejection based on 35 USC § 112 to the claims previously set forth in the Non-Final Office Action.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 47 and 67-75 in a reply filed 05/26/2026 (hereinafter, Remarks) regarding newly added limitations have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
Regarding claim 47, the applicant respectfully argues (Remarks Page 9 - The cited Shah disclosure concerns general IoT/URLLC concepts, packet sizes "up to 256 bytes," and user-plane latency in the order of 0.5 to 1 ms. A packet size "up to 256 bytes" is not a disclosure of each packet having a size of 40 bytes. Likewise, a user-plane latency of 0.5 ms is not an inter-arrival period of 0.5 ms. Latency and packet inter-arrival period are different technical parameters. Shah also does not disclose gating a DAPS handover PUCCH indication so that it is transmitted only for periodic deterministic IIoT traffic having the claimed packet size and inter-arrival period. The proposed modification therefore relies on hindsight).
However, the examiner respectfully disagrees. SHAH discloses “up to 256 bytes” reads on the “each packet having a size of 40 bytes” recited in claim 47 in order to support URLLC and a latency of 0.5ms to 1ms. Furthermore, the applicant gives no support in the specification regarding “the indication is transmitted only for periodic deterministic industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) traffic in which each packet has a size of 40 bytes at an inter-arrival period of 0.5 milliseconds” recited in claim 47 and in Remarks Page 9 (“gating a DAPS handover PUCCH indication so that it is transmitted only for periodic deterministic IIoT traffic having the claimed packet size and inter-arrival period”). The most relevant in the specification does not explicitly disclose the claimed language stated above ([0034] Certain aspects of NR may include delay parameters, such as for factory scenarios. In particular, there may be delay parameters in vertical domains. For a periodic deterministic communication, packets may arrive periodically where the transfer interval or inter-arrival period of the packets can vary from 0.5 milliseconds (ms) to 500 ms depending on the use case. The message size in bytes may be small, e.g., ranging from 40 bytes up to 1 kilobytes (KB); [0036] One problem may be that depending on the traffic type, the forwarding of the buffered UL packets from the target cell to the UPF and/or serving gateway may be delayed unnecessarily in the following scenarios: 1) if the UE does not have any pending UL MAC or RLC (re)-transmissions to the source cell upon UL switch, and 2) the pending (re)-transmissions to the source cell may end shortly after the UL switch. These two scenarios may be particularly relevant for industrial Internet of things (IIoT) services, where the UE may periodically send small packets to the network).
Therefore, SHAH discloses:
indication is transmitted only for periodic ([0134] When either Type 1 CG or Type 2 CG is configured, the UE can autonomously start the uplink data transmission according to the configured periodicity and radio resources. Configured grant transmission may support multiple UEs to access the same configured grant resources, which may reduce latency, and reduce signaling overhead) deterministic industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) traffic ([0459] The communication apparatus is not limited to be portable or movable, and may also include any kind of apparatus… and any other “things” in a network of an “Internet of Things (IoT); [0092] The URLLC use case has stringent requirements for capabilities such as throughput, latency and availability and has been envisioned as one of the enablers for future vertical applications such as wireless control of industrial manufacturing or production processes) in which each packet has a size of 40 bytes at an inter-arrival period of 0.5 milliseconds ([0097] For NR URLLC, further use cases with tighter requirements have been identified such as… The tighter requirements are higher reliability (up to 10.sup.6 level), higher availability, packet sizes of up to 256 bytes, time synchronization down to the order of a few μs where the value can be one or a few μs depending on frequency range and short latency in the order of 0.5 to 1 ms in particular a target user plane latency of 0.5 ms, depending on the use cases).
Therefore, the applicant’s argument is not persuasive.
Regarding claims 67-75, the applicant submits the same arguments as presented in claim 1. Thus, examiner applies the same reasoning as presented in claim 1
Examiner notes that with respect to newly added or amended claims, the support for the limitation is not apparent, and applicant has not pointed out where the limitation is supported. See Hyatt v. Dudas, 492 F.3d 1365, 1370, 83 USPQ2d 1373, 1376 (Fed. Cir. 2007).
Claim Objections
Claims 47, 73 and 74 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 47 “the enumerated RRC information element is set by the target network node” should read “the enumerated RRC information element is set by a target network node” in order to address antecedent basis
Claim 73 “the single explicit indication causes” should read “a single explicit indication causes” in order to address antecedent basis
Claim 74 “UE transmitted the single explicit indication” should read “UE transmitted a single explicit indication” in order to address antecedent basis
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 47 and 67-75 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 47 recites “completed before expiration of the timer T and (ii)” is indefinite because it is unclear whether “the target network node and starting a timer T” or “and based on a timer T not expiring” is the one being referred to “completed before expiration of the timer T and (ii)”. For the purpose of examination, “completed before expiration of the timer T and (ii)” will be interpreted as “and based on a timer T not expiring”.
Claim 47 further recites “the transmitting is performed after” is indefinite because it is unclear whether “prior to transmitting an indication”, “transmitting a Random Access Channel (RACH) preamble” or “transmitting, to the source network node via a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH)” is the one being referred to “the transmitting is performed after”. For the purpose of examination, “the transmitting is performed after” will be interpreted as “a prior to transmitting an indication”.
Claim 71 recites “when the timer T expires before” has the similar indefinite as claim 47. Therefore, the examiner applied the same reasoning for the rejection as claim 47.
Claim 68 recites “The UE of claim 66” is indefinite because claim 66 is currently cancelled. For the purpose of examination, “The UE of claim 66” will be interpreted as “The UE of claim 47”.
The examiner applied the same reasoning for the rejection as claim 47 to the subsequent claims 67-75.
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 47, 67-70, 72 and 74 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wallentin et al. (US-20230403614-A1, which has a provisional application No. 63/112,441 filed 11/11/2020, hereinafter WALLENTIN) in view of KIM et al. (US-20210136829-A1, hereinafter, KIM) and in view of SHAH et. al. (US-20230413340-A1, hereinafter SHAH).
Regarding claim 47, WALLENTIN discloses:
A user equipment (UE) operating in Fifth Generation (5G) New Radio (NR) ([0053] FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless communication network 10 according to the 5G NR standard... The base stations 20 are also referred to as Evolved NodeBs (eNBs) and gNodeBs (gNBs) in 3GPP standards... The wireless devices 40, also known as user equipment (UE)... over a wireless communication channel) and participating in a Dual Active Protocol Stack (DAPS) handover (Fig. 5; Fig. 15; [0064] FIG. 5 illustrates a DAPS handover that enables the wireless device 40 to establish a connection with the target base station 20T before terminating or breaking the connection with the source base station 20S, i.e., a make-before-break handover), the UE comprising:
at least one processor (Fig. 22); and
at least one memory (Fig. 22; [0130] The wireless device 40 comprises a plurality of antennas 410, communication circuitry 420, processing circuitry 430, and memory 440) including computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the UE to perform ([0132] Memory 440 stores a computer program 450 comprising executable instructions that configure the processing circuitry 430 to implement the method 100 according to FIG. 16 as described herein) the following operations:
receiving (Fig. 5 – S3. RRCReconfiguration (DAPS handover); Fig. 15 - S5;), from the source network node (Fig. 5 – Source BS 20S) prior to transmitting an indication (Fig. 5 – S8. RRCReconfigurationComplete, Fig. 15 – S12, S17-18;), an enumerated Radio Resource Control (RRC) information element set to true that enables uplink interruption reduction ([0064] FIG. 5 illustrates a DAPS handover that enables the wireless device 40 to establish a connection with the target base station 20T before terminating or breaking the connection with the source base station 20S, i.e., a make-before-break handover) during the DAPS handover ([0065] As shown in FIG. 5, the source base station 20S initiates handover and sends a Handover Request to the target base station 20T over the Xn interface (S1). The Handover Request includes an indication to perform a DAPS handover. The target base station 20T performs admission control and provides the new RRC configuration in a Handover Request Acknowledge message (S2)), wherein the enumerated RRC information element is included in an RRC configuration message that also includes a handover command for the DAPS handover (Fig. 5 – S2; Fig. 15 – S5), and wherein the enumerated RRC information element is set by the target network node (Fig. 5 – Target BS 20T; [0065];) and conveyed together with the handover command (Fig. 5 – S3; [0065] The source base station 20S provides the RRC configuration to the wireless device 40 by forwarding the RRCReconfiguration message received in the Handover Request Acknowledge message with an indication to perform a DAPS handover (S3));
transmitting (Fig. 5 – S7) a Random Access Channel (RACH) preamble to the target network node ([0068] When the protocol stack and logical channels for the target base station 20T have been configured, the wireless device 40 performs a RA procedure to establish a connection with the target base station 20T (S7)) during a contention-free random access (CFRA) procedure ([0065] For some cases, the information required for contention-based and contention-free random access can be included in the RRCReconfiguration message. The access information to the target base station 20T may include beam specific information, if any);
receiving, from the target network node (Fig. 15 – S15. RRCReconfiguration message with “release source” indication), a handover complete message after completing the RACH preamble (Fig. 15 – S10; [0100] Once the wireless device 40 has completed the random access with the target base station 20T, it switches the transmission... to the target base station 20T and sends a handover complete (a RRCReconfigurationComplete message) to the target base station (S11, S12); [0102] The target base station 20T instructs the wireless device 40 to release the source connections by sending an RRCReconfiguration message with “release source” indication (S15)... Upon receiving the handover complete message, the target base station 20T can start exchanging user data with the wireless device 40);
in response to completing the RACH preamble (Fig. 15 – S10-11; [0100] Once the wireless device 40 has completed the random access with the target base station 20T, it switches the transmission of new and unacknowledged UL data PDCP Signaling Data Units (SDUs), for the bearers configured for DAPS, to the target base station 20T and sends a handover complete (a RRCReconfigurationComplete message) to the target base station (S11, S12)), performing an UL user-plane ([0084] a single PDCP entity is configured in the PDCP layer for each user plane radio bearer to handle PDCP duplication combined with DAPS as shown in FIG. 8. The protocol stack includes a PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer and Physical layer) switch to the target network node (Fig. 15 – S11) configured in the RRC configuration message that includes the handover command (Fig. 15 – S5. RRCReconfiguration (“handover command”); [0100]; [0097] The source base station 20S provides the RRC configuration to the wireless device 40 by forwarding the RRCReconfiguration message received in the Handover Request Acknowledge message (S5). The RRCReconfiguration message includes an indication to perform a DAPS handover; [0064] In case of DAPS handover... After the random access procedure to the target base station 20T is successfully completed, the wireless device 40 switches the uplink data transmission from source to target base station while receiving downlink transmission from both the source and target base station until the connection with the source base station 20S is released);
after transmission of a RRC reconfiguration complete message to the target network node (Fig. 5 – S8. RRCReconfigurationComplete; Fig. 15 – S12. RRCReconfigurationComplete (“Handover Complete”)), and based on a timer T not expiring (Fig. 15 – S12. RRCReconfigurationComplete (“Handover Complete”) - S16. Release Source Connection (duration of time between S12-S16 before the source network is released; hence the timer is not expiring)), transmitting (Fig. 5; Fig. 15 – S13), to the source network node via a channel ([0101] In response to the handover complete message, the target base station 20T sends a Handover Success message to the source base station 20S indicating the wireless device has successfully established the target connection (S13). Upon reception of the Handover Success message, the source base station 20S stops scheduling any further DL or UL data to the wireless device 40 (hence the UE and the source network node continues to transmit/receive data between S12 and S13); [0079] The wireless device also performs the normal steps as part of DAPS handover, such as keeping the transmission/reception with the source cells until the random access procedure in a target cells is successful), the indication (Fig. 15 – S13; [0101] In response to the handover complete message, the target base station 20T sends a Handover Success message to the source base station 20S indicating the wireless device has successfully established the target connection (S13)) comprising (i) a statement ([0100] Once the wireless device 40 has completed the random access with the target base station 20T, it switches the transmission of new and unacknowledged UL data PDCP Signaling Data Units (SDUs), for the bearers configured for DAPS, to the target base station 20T and sends a handover complete (a RRCReconfigurationComplete message) to the target base station (S11, S12); [0101];) and (ii) a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) sequence number (SN) of a next UL packet to be forwarded ([0101] In response to the handover complete message, the target base station 20T sends a Handover Success message to the source base station 20S indicating the wireless device has successfully established the target connection (S13). Upon reception of the Handover Success message, the source base station 20S stops scheduling any further DL or UL data to the wireless device 40 and sends a final SN Status Transfer message to target base station 20T indicating the latest PDCP SN and hyperframe number (HFN) transmitter and receiver status (S14)), wherein:
the transmitting (Fig. 5 – S12. RRCReconfigurationComplete, Fig. 15 – S12, S17-S18) is performed after the UL user-plane switch to the target network node that occurs (Fig. 5 – S10; Fig. 15 – S11) in the CFRA procedure ([0065] For some cases, the information required for contention-based and contention-free random access can be included in the RRCReconfiguration message. The access information to the target base station 20T may include beam specific information, if any);
the indication (Fig. 5 – S8. RRCReconfigurationComplete, Fig. 15 – S12, S17-18; 0102] The wireless device 40 releases the source connections, reconfigures the bearers configured for DAPS with PDCP duplication to PDCP duplication with the target base station 20T and responds with a RRCReconfigurationComplete message (S16, S17)... Once the path switch is completed the target node sends the UE Context Release message to the source node (S18)) causes the source network node to transmit, to the target network node, a sequence number status transfer uplink message identifying the next UL packet to be forwarded (Fig. 15 – S14. SN Status Transfer) to a user plane function (UPF) or serving gateway ([0101] In response to the handover complete message, the target base station 20T sends a Handover Success message to the source base station 20S indicating the wireless device has successfully established the target connection (S13). Upon reception of the Handover Success message, the source base station 20S stops scheduling any further DL or UL data to the wireless device 40 and sends a final SN Status Transfer message to target base station 20T indicating the latest PDCP SN and hyperframe number (HFN) transmitter and receiver status (S14); [0102] Upon receiving the handover complete message, the target base station 20T can start exchanging user data with the wireless device 40. The target base station 20T also requests the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) to switch the DL data path from the User Plane Function (UPF) from the source base station 20S to the target base station 20T (not shown). Once the path switch is completed the target node sends the UE Context Release message to the source node (S18)), thereby enabling the target network node to forward buffered uplink PDCP service data units received from the UE (Fig. 15 after S12 but before S13, User data; [0100] Once the wireless device 40 has completed the random access with the target base station 20T, it switches the transmission of new and unacknowledged UL data PDCP Signaling Data Units (SDUs), for the bearers configured for DAPS, to the target base station 20T and sends a handover complete (a RRCReconfigurationComplete message) to the target base station (S11, S12); [0102] Upon receiving the handover complete message, the target base station 20T can start exchanging user data with the wireless device 40) without waiting for a handover success message from the target network node (Fig. 15 – S13. handover success (target base station exchanges user data with wireless device prior to S13; hence without waiting for the handover success message)).
WALLENTIN does not explicitly disclose:
The indication includes no pending transmissions;
completing the RACH preamble includes receiving, from the target network node, a Random Access Response (RAR);
in response to completing the RACH preamble includes receiving the RAR, starting a timer T having a duration of 10 milliseconds;
determining, before expiration of the timer T, that all pending UL Medium Access Control (MAC) retransmissions and all pending UL Radio Link Control (RLC) retransmissions to the source network node have been completed;
the transmitted indication to the source network node is via a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH);
the statement includes no pending uplink (UL) MAC and RLC retransmissions to the source network node because all pending UL MAC retransmissions and all pending UL RLC retransmissions to the source network node have been completed before expiration of the timer T;
the UL user-plane switching to the target network node that occurs upon receipt of the RAR; and
the indication is transmitted only for periodic deterministic industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) traffic in which each packet has a size of 40 bytes at an inter-arrival period of 0.5 milliseconds.
However, KIM discloses:
An indication includes no pending transmissions (Fig. 6 – 6-70; [0200] The PDCP layer device may indicate that the size or amount of data to be transmitted to the MAC layer device of the first bearer for the source eNB 8-05 is zero (or there is none), in order to switch uplink data transmission from the first bearer for the source eNB 8-05 to the second bearer for the target eNB 8-10);
completing the RACH preamble includes receiving, from the target network node, a Random Access Response (RAR) ([0165] The UE attempts a random access to the target cell indicated by the source eNB (6-40)... If an RAR is received during the specific time (6-45), the UE transmits an HO complete message, as an RRC reconfiguration complete message, to the target eNB (6-55). If the RAR is successfully received from the target eNB in this manner, the UE ends the T304 timer (6-50));
in response to completing the RACH preamble includes receiving the RAR ([0165];), starting a timer T having a duration ([0228] It may be determined that the second condition is satisfied if the eNB has configured a separate timer for the UE 8-20 through an RRC message, and if the timer has expired; [0229] The timer may be started... if the UE has received an RAR from the target eNB 8-10, if the UE has transmitted a handover completion message to the target eNB 8-10, or if the UE has first transmitted data by using a PUCCH or PUSCH uplink transmission resource);
determining, before expiration of the timer T ([0228] It may be determined that the second condition is satisfied if the eNB has configured a separate timer for the UE 8-20 through an RRC message, and if the timer has expired; [0359] If the second condition of the disclosure is satisfied, or if the UE is release wireless connection with the source eNB (9-03) (e.g., timer ends since UE and source node network is no longer connected)), that all pending UL Medium Access Control (MAC) retransmissions and all pending UL Radio Link Control (RLC) retransmissions ([0200] The PDCP layer device may indicate that the size or amount of data to be transmitted to the MAC layer device of the first bearer for the source eNB 8-05 is zero (or there is none), in order to switch uplink data transmission from the first bearer for the source eNB 8-05 to the second bearer for the target eNB 8-10; [0247] The UE 8-20 may release the first bearer for the source eNB 8-05 and may disconnect from the source eNB 8-05... if the handover method of the second embodiment of the disclosure (DAPS handover method) is indicated as proposed by the disclosure... and if RLC control data (RLC status report) or PDCP control data (PDCP status report or ROCH feedback) is produced, the UE 8-20 may indicate a data volume corresponding to the RLC control data or PDCP control data to the MAC layer device, and may transmit data to the source eNB; [0203] the transmission or retransmission operation may be performed after releasing lower layers (for example, transmitting or receiving RLC layer device or MAC layer device), which are first protocol layer devices for transmitting data to the source eNB 8-05; [0204] If there is data to be transmitted in the buffer, the PDCP layer device may indicate the size or amount of data to be transmitted (for example, PDCP data volume) to the MAC layer device of the second bearer for the target eNB 8-10, thereby informing that there is data to be transmitted, and may perform uplink data transmission switching to the target eNB 8-10. The MAC layer device of the second bearer for the target eNB 8-10 may then perform a scheduling request or buffer status report procedure in order to receive an uplink transmission resource assigned from the target eNB 8-10; [0222] Specifically, if the UE 8-20 has received a handover command message... the UE 8-20 or the bearer to which the DAPS handover method has been indicated may perform a scheduling request through the first protocol layer device, may transmits a buffer status report to the source eNB 8-05, may receive an uplink transmission resource, may transmit uplink data, and may receive downlink data from the source eNB 8-05, until the first condition is satisfied. However, if the first condition is satisfied, the UE 8-20 may no longer transmit data to the source eNB 8-05, may switch the uplink, may perform a scheduling request through the second protocol layer device, may transmit a buffer status report to the target eNB 8-10, may receive an uplink transmission resource, and may transmit uplink data to the target eNB 8-10. However, the UE 8-20 may continuously receive downlink data from the source eNB 8-05, and even after uplink transmission switching, the UE 8-20 may continuously transmit an HARQ ACK or HARQ NACK, RLC status report, or PDCP control data (for example, PDCP status report or ROHC feedback information) corresponding to the downlink data. In addition, the UE 8-20 may continuously receive downlink data from the source eNB 8-05 or target eNB 8-10 even if the first condition is satisfied; [0205] the LTE or NR PDCP layer device connected to the AM DRB (RLC layer device operating in the AM mode) may switch uplink data transmission to the second bearer (for example, RLC layer device or MAC layer device) for the target eNB 8-10, and may send an indicator to the lower layer device (for example, RLC layer device or MAC layer device) of the first bearer for the source eNB 8-05 so as to instruct the same to discard data (for example, PDCP data (PDCP PDU)). The is because uplink data transmission is switched with regard to the AM DRB, data, successful delivery of which is not confirmed, is retransmitted through the second bearer for the target eNB 8-10, and, for this reason, data transmission to the source eNB 8-05 through the first bearer, if continued, is unnecessary and thus will waste the transmission resource) to the source network node have been completed ([0200]; [0204]; [0222] if the first condition is satisfied, the UE 8-20 may no longer transmit data to the source eNB 8-05, may switch the uplink, may perform a scheduling request through the second protocol layer device, may transmit a buffer status report to the target eNB 8-10, may receive an uplink transmission resource, and may transmit uplink data to the target eNB 8-10... In addition, the UE 8-20 may continuously receive downlink data from the source eNB 8-05 or target eNB 8-10 even if the first condition is satisfied (hence all the pending retransmissions to the source network node are then routed toward the target network node); [0232] the same may determine when to stop transmitting downlink data to the UE 8-20 or when to disconnect from the UE 8-20. For example, the same may be determined in a predetermined method (for example, when a predetermined timer has expired... In addition, the UE 8-20 may determine that the second condition is satisfied if no downlink data is received form the source eNB 8-05 for a predetermined time (hence the UE is no longer transmitting the MAC and RLC transmissions due to no downlink data from source network node), may determine that the same has disconnected from the source eNB 8-05 (hence the second condition is satisfied before the timer is expired), and may disconnect therefrom);
the transmitted indication (Fig. 6 – 6-70;) to a source network node via is a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) ([0170]; [0171] when the UE first transmits data with an uplink transmission resource by using a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission resource; [0222] the UE 8-20 may continuously receive downlink data from the source eNB 8-05, and even after uplink transmission switching, the UE 8-20 may continuously transmit an HARQ ACK or HARQ NACK, RLC status report, or PDCP control data (for example, PDCP status report or ROHC feedback information) corresponding to the downlink data);
a statement ([0246] if the RRC layer device, MAC layer device, or RLC layer device of the first bearer for the source eNB 8-05 of the UE 8-20... confirms that the second condition proposed by the disclosure is satisfied, an indicator may be sent to the PDCP layer device of the UE or bearer performing the DAPS handover method so as to indicate that the second condition is satisfied... hereby successfully completing the efficient handover method proposed by the disclosure) includes no pending uplink (UL) MAC and RLC retransmissions to the source network node because all pending UL MAC retransmissions and all pending UL RLC retransmissions to the source network node have been completed before expiration of the timer T ([0200]; [0204]; [0222] if the first condition is satisfied, the UE 8-20 may no longer transmit data to the source eNB 8-05, may switch the uplink, may perform a scheduling request through the second protocol layer device, may transmit a buffer status report to the target eNB 8-10, may receive an uplink transmission resource, and may transmit uplink data to the target eNB 8-10... In addition, the UE 8-20 may continuously receive downlink data from the source eNB 8-05 or target eNB 8-10 even if the first condition is satisfied (hence all the pending retransmissions to the source network node are then routed toward the target network node and are transmitted to the target network node); [0232] the same may determine when to stop transmitting downlink data to the UE 8-20 or when to disconnect from the UE 8-20. For example, the same may be determined in a predetermined method (for example, when a predetermined timer has expired... In addition, the UE 8-20 may determine that the second condition is satisfied if no downlink data is received form the source eNB 8-05 for a predetermined time (e.g., no more data transmissions between UE and source network node), may determine that the same has disconnected from the source eNB 8-05 (hence the second condition is satisfied before the timer is expired), and may disconnect therefrom);
a user-plane UL switching to the target network node (Fig. 6 – 6-55, 6-65) that occurs upon receipt of the RAR (Fig. 6-45; [0165] The UE attempts a random access to the target cell indicated by the source eNB (6-40). The random access is both for the purpose of notifying the target cell that the UE is moving to the target cell through the handover and for making uplink synchronization with the target cell... If an RAR is received during the specific time (6-45), the UE transmits an HO complete message, as an RRC reconfiguration complete message, to the target eNB (6-55); [0166] The target eNB requests the source eNB to make path modification in order to modify the path of bearers that have been configured (6-60, 6-65), and notifies the source eNB so as to delete UE context of the UE (6-70));
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 indication, the completing the RACH preamble, the transmitted indication to the source network node, the statement and the UL-plane switching of WALLENTIN to include the indication includes no pending transmissions, completing the RACH preamble includes receiving, from the target network node, the RAR; in response to completing the RACH preamble includes receiving the RAR, starting the timer T having the duration; determining, before expiration of the timer T, that all the pending UL MAC retransmissions and all the pending UL RLC retransmissions to the source network node have been completed; the transmitted indication to the source network node is via the PUCCH; the statement includes all the pending UL MAC retransmissions and all the pending UL RLC retransmissions to the source network node have been completed before expiration of the timer T; and the UL user-plane switching to the target network node that occurs upon receipt of the RAR as taught by KIM in order to reduce data loss/interruption when switching from the source network node to the target network node (KIM - [0170] If a handover command message is received from the source eNB... As another method, the UE 7-20 may continuously transmit/receive data with the source eNB 7-05 in order to minimize the data interruption time occurring during a handover according to the handover method indicated by the source eNB; [0176] If the handover fails, and if the first timer expires, the UE 8-20 may fall back if the connection with the source eNB 8-05 is valid, may report the handover failure to the source eNB 8-05, and may attempt connection recovery; [0205] the LTE or NR PDCP layer device connected to the AM DRB (RLC layer device operating in the AM mode) may switch uplink data transmission to the second bearer (for example, RLC layer device or MAC layer device) for the target eNB 8-10... The is because uplink data transmission is switched with regard to the AM DRB, data, successful delivery of which is not confirmed, is retransmitted through the second bearer for the target eNB 8-10, and, for this reason, data transmission to the source eNB 8-05 through the first bearer, if continued, is unnecessary and thus will waste the transmission resource).
WALLENTIN and KIM do not explicitly disclose:
the starting the timer T having the duration of 10 milliseconds; and
the indication is transmitted only for periodic deterministic industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) traffic in which each packet has a size of 40 bytes at an inter-arrival period of 0.5 milliseconds.
However, SHAH discloses a duration of 10 milliseconds ([0036] In the new radio system 5G-NR for each numerology and carrier a resource grid of subcarriers and OFDM symbols is defined respectively for uplink and downlink... and the symbol position in the time domain (see 3GPP TS 38.211 v16.2.0. e.g., section 4). For instance, downlink and uplink transmissions are organized into frames with 10 ms duration, each frame consisting of ten subframes of respectively 1 ms duration) and wherein an indication ([0134] When either Type 1 CG or Type 2 CG is configured, the UE can autonomously start the uplink data transmission according to the configured periodicity and radio resources. Configured grant transmission may support multiple UEs to access the same configured grant resources, which may reduce latency, and reduce signaling overhead) is transmitted only for periodic deterministic industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) traffic ([0459] The communication apparatus is not limited to be portable or movable, and may also include any kind of apparatus… and any other “things” in a network of an “Internet of Things (IoT); [0092] The URLLC use case has stringent requirements for capabilities such as throughput, latency and availability and has been envisioned as one of the enablers for future vertical applications such as wireless control of industrial manufacturing or production processes) in which each packet has a size of 40 bytes at an inter-arrival period of 0.5 milliseconds ([0097] For NR URLLC, further use cases with tighter requirements have been identified such as… The tighter requirements are higher reliability (up to 10.sup.6 level), higher availability, packet sizes of up to 256 bytes, time synchronization down to the order of a few μs where the value can be one or a few μs depending on frequency range and short latency in the order of 0.5 to 1 ms in particular a target user plane latency of 0.5 ms, depending on the use cases).
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 duration of the timer T and the indication of WALLENTIN and KIM to include the duration of 10 milliseconds and the indication is transmitted only for periodic deterministic industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) traffic in which each packet has a size of 40 bytes at an inter-arrival period of 0.5 milliseconds as taught by SHAH in order to synchronize and align the radio structures to accommodate for any of the user plane switching latencies (SHAH – [0036]; [0104] The RACH procedure can also be used in other contexts within NR; [0106] To reestablish uplink synchronization to the current cell, if synchronization has been lost due to a too long period without any uplink transmission from the device; KIM - [0165] The UE attempts a random access to the target cell indicated by the source eNB (6-40). The random access is both for the purpose of notifying the target cell that the UE is moving to the target cell through the handover and for making uplink synchronization with the target cell; [0170] If a handover command message is received from the source eNB... As another method, the UE 7-20 may continuously transmit/receive data with the source eNB 7-05 in order to minimize the data interruption time occurring during a handover according to the handover method indicated by the source eNB) and also improve reliability by reducing the user plane latency (SHAH - [0096] As mentioned above, it is expected that the scope of reliability in NR becomes wider. One key requirement to all the cases, and especially necessary for URLLC and mMTC, is high reliability or ultra-reliability. Several mechanisms can be considered to improve the reliability from radio perspective and network perspective; [0097]; [0134];).
Regarding claim 67, WALLENTIN further discloses:
wherein the enumerated RRC information element having the TRUE value is received by the source network node from the target network node in a handover request acknowledgement (Fig.5; Fig. 15 – S4; [0064] FIG. 5 illustrates a DAPS handover that enables the wireless device 40 to establish a connection with the target base station 20T before terminating or breaking the connection with the source base station 20S, i.e., a make-before-break handover; [0097] The target base station 20T performs admission control and provides the new RRC configuration in a Handover Request Acknowledge message (S4) (hence true value). The source base station 20S provides the RRC configuration to the wireless device 40 by forwarding the RRCReconfiguration message received in the Handover Request Acknowledge message (S5). The RRCReconfiguration message includes an indication to perform a DAPS handover) before being transmitted by the source network node to the UE in the RRC configuration message (Fig. 15 – S5).
Regarding claim 68, WALLENTIN further discloses:
wherein the enumerated RRC information element is included in a handover command container carried by the RRC configuration message (Fig. 15 – S5 “handover command”; [0097] The source base station 20S provides the RRC configuration to the wireless device 40 by forwarding the RRCReconfiguration message received in the Handover Request Acknowledge message (S5). The RRCReconfiguration message includes an indication to perform a DAPS handover).
Regarding claim 69, WALLENTIN further discloses:
wherein the UE transmits the indication to the source network (Fig. 15 – S12-13; [0100] Once the wireless device 40 has completed the random access with the target base station 20T, it switches the transmission... to the target base station 20T and sends a handover complete (a RRCReconfigurationComplete message) to the target base station (S11, S12); [0101] In response to the handover complete message, the target base station 20T sends a Handover Success message to the source base station 20S indicating the wireless device has successfully established the target connection (S13); ) upon completion of the CFRA procedure (Fig. 5 – S3; Fig. 15- S5; [0065] The source base station 20S provides the RRC configuration to the wireless device 40 by forwarding the RRCReconfiguration message received in the Handover Request Acknowledge message with an indication to perform a DAPS handover (S3).The RRCReconfiguration message includes at least the cell ID and all information required to access the target base station 20T so that the wireless device 40 can access the target base station 20T without reading system information. For some cases, the information required for contention-based and contention-free random access can be included in the RRCReconfiguration message).
WALLENTIN and SHAH do not explicitly disclose the transmitted indication is transmitted only when the UE determines that no UL MAC retransmission and no UL RLC retransmission toward the source network node remains pending.
However, KIM discloses:
the transmitted indication (Fig. 6 – 6-70; [0247] The UE 8-20 may release the first bearer for the source eNB 8-05 and may disconnect from the source eNB 8-05) is transmitted only when the UE determines that no UL MAC retransmission and no UL RLC retransmission toward the source network node remains pending ([0222] if the first condition is satisfied, the UE 8-20 may no longer transmit data to the source eNB 8-05, may switch the uplink, may perform a scheduling request through the second protocol layer device, may transmit a buffer status report to the target eNB 8-10, may receive an uplink transmission resource, and may transmit uplink data to the target eNB 8-10. However, the UE 8-20 may continuously receive downlink data from the source eNB 8-05, and even after uplink transmission switching, the UE 8-20 may continuously transmit an HARQ ACK or HARQ NACK, RLC status report, or PDCP control data (for example, PDCP status report or ROHC feedback information) corresponding to the downlink data. In addition, the UE 8-20 may continuously receive downlink data from the source eNB 8-05 or target eNB 8-10 even if the first condition is satisfied; [0232] the same may determine when to stop transmitting downlink data to the UE 8-20 or when to disconnect from the UE 8-20. For example, the same may be determined in a predetermined method (for example, when a predetermined timer has expired (timer may start after handover is indicated), or when the source eNB 8-05 has received, from the target eNB 8-10, an indication that the UE 8-20 has successfully handed over to the target eNB 8-10). In addition, the UE 8-20 may determine that the second condition is satisfied if no downlink data is received form the source eNB 8-05 (hence the UE is no longer transmitting the MAC and RLC transmissions due to no downlink data from source network node) for a predetermined time, may determine that the same has disconnected from the source eNB 8-05, and may disconnect therefrom).
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 transmitted indication of WALLENTIN, KIM and SHAH to include the transmitted indication is transmitted only when the UE determines that no UL MAC retransmission and no UL RLC retransmission toward the source network node remains pending as taught by KIM in order to reduce data loss and data collision during the handover procedure (KIM - [0222] Even in such a case, the UE 8-20 may continue data transmission resulting from HARQ retransmission by the MAC device or resulting from retransmission by the AM-mode RLC layer device, in order to guarantee that there is no data loss to the source eNB 8-0... the source eNB 8-05 or the target eNB 8-10 may divide time and assign a transmission resource to the UE 8-20 such that the uplink transmission resource to the target eNB 8-10 and the uplink transmission resource to the source eNB 8-05 do not collide. If the uplink transmission resource to the target eNB 8-10 and the uplink transmission resource to the source eNB 8-05 collide and overlap, the UE 8-20 may prioritize the uplink transmission resource to the source eNB 8-05 and thereby transmit data to the source eNB, in order to maintain downlink data transmission from the source eNB 8-05, or in order to continuously receive the same with no problem).
Regarding claim 70, WALLENTIN and SHAH do not explicitly disclose:
wherein determining that all pending UL MAC retransmissions and all pending UL RLC retransmissions to the source network node have been completed comprises determining that no lower-layer retransmission associated with a UL packet transmitted to the source network node remains pending after the UL user-plane transmission is switched to the target network node.
However, KIM discloses:
determining that all pending UL MAC retransmissions and all pending UL RLC retransmissions to the source network node have been completed comprises determining that no lower-layer retransmission associated with a UL packet transmitted to the source network node remains pending ([0232] the same may determine when to stop transmitting downlink data to the UE 8-20 or when to disconnect from the UE 8-20. For example, the same may be determined in a predetermined method (for example, when a predetermined timer has expired (timer may start after handover is indicated), or when the source eNB 8-05 has received, from the target eNB 8-10, an indication that the UE 8-20 has successfully handed over to the target eNB 8-10). In addition, the UE 8-20 may determine that the second condition is satisfied if no downlink data is received form the source eNB 8-05 (hence the UE is no longer transmitting the MAC and RLC transmissions due to no downlink data from source network node) for a predetermined time, may determine that the same has disconnected from the source eNB 8-05, and may disconnect therefrom) after the UL user-plane transmission is switched to the target network node ([0222] if the first condition is satisfied, the UE 8-20 may no longer transmit data to the source eNB 8-05, may switch the uplink, may perform a scheduling request through the second protocol layer device, may transmit a buffer status report to the target eNB 8-10, may receive an uplink transmission resource, and may transmit uplink data to the target eNB 8-10. However, the UE 8-20 may continuously receive downlink data from the source eNB 8-05, and even after uplink transmission switching, the UE 8-20 may continuously transmit an HARQ ACK or HARQ NACK, RLC status report (UL MAC/RLC transmissions are the lower-layer compared to PDCP layer see Fig. 8), or PDCP control data (for example, PDCP status report or ROHC feedback information) corresponding to the downlink data. In addition, the UE 8-20 may continuously receive downlink data from the source eNB 8-05 or target eNB 8-10 even if the first condition is satisfied).
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 switch to the target network node of WALLENTIN, KIM and SHAH to include determining that the all pending UL MAC retransmissions and the all pending UL RLC retransmissions to the source network node have been completed comprises determining that the no lower-layer retransmission associated with the UL packet transmitted to the source network node remains pending after the UL user-plane transmission is switched to the target network node as taught by KIM in order to reduce data loss and data collision during the handover procedure (KIM - [0222] Even in such a case, the UE 8-20 may continue data transmission resulting from HARQ retransmission by the MAC device or resulting from retransmission by the AM-mode RLC layer device, in order to guarantee that there is no data loss to the source eNB 8-0... the source eNB 8-05 or the target eNB 8-10 may divide time and assign a transmission resource to the UE 8-20 such that the uplink transmission resource to the target eNB 8-10 and the uplink transmission resource to the source eNB 8-05 do not collide. If the uplink transmission resource to the target eNB 8-10 and the uplink transmission resource to the source eNB 8-05 collide and overlap, the UE 8-20 may prioritize the uplink transmission resource to the source eNB 8-05 and thereby transmit data to the source eNB, in order to maintain downlink data transmission from the source eNB 8-05, or in order to continuously receive the same with no problem).
Regarding claim 72, WALLENTIN further disclose:
wherein, after the UL user-plane transmission is switched to the target network node (Fig. 15 – S11), the UE continues receiving one or more transmissions from the source network node ([0064] After the random access procedure to the target base station 20T is successfully completed, the wireless device 40 switches the uplink data transmission from source to target base station while receiving downlink transmission from both the source and target base station until the connection with the source base station 20S is released).
WALLENTIN and SHAH do not explicitly disclose:
the UE continues one or more non-user-plane UL transmissions toward the source network node until the UE determines that all pending UL MAC retransmissions and all pending UL RLC retransmissions to the source network node have been completed.
However, KIM discloses:
the UE continues one or more non-user-plane UL transmissions toward the source network node ([0220] In addition, transmission may be allowed, with regard to AM bearers, such that the RLC status report, which is not data, can be continuously uplink-transmitted to the source eNB (or target eNB) through the protocol layer devices of the first bearer (or second bearer), in order to guarantee that downlink data can be efficiently received from the source eNB (or target eNB), or that the source eNB (or target eNB) can efficiently transmit downlink data. That is, even if the UE has switched uplink data transmission to the target eNB on the ground that the first condition is satisfied, data transmission may be allowed through the first bearer for the source eNB in such a case in which RLC status report, HARQ ACK, NACK, or PDCP control data (PDCP ROHC feedback or PDCP status report) needs to be transmitted to the source eNB. This is because, in the case of AM bearers, if successful delivery is not indicated through an RLC status report (that is, if no RLC status report is received) after data is transmitted to the transmitting end, data can no longer be transmitted thereafter) until the UE determines that all pending UL MAC retransmissions and all pending UL RLC retransmissions to the source network node have been completed ([0200]; [0204]; [0222] if the first condition is satisfied, the UE 8-20 may no longer transmit data to the source eNB 8-05, may switch the uplink, may perform a scheduling request through the second protocol layer device, may transmit a buffer status report to the target eNB 8-10, may receive an uplink transmission resource, and may transmit uplink data to the target eNB 8-10... In addition, the UE 8-20 may continuously receive downlink data from the source eNB 8-05 or target eNB 8-10 even if the first condition is satisfied (hence all the pending retransmissions to the source network node are then routed toward the target network node); [0232] the same may determine when to stop transmitting downlink data to the UE 8-20 or when to disconnect from the UE 8-20. For example, the same may be determined in a predetermined method (for example, when a predetermined timer has expired... In addition, the UE 8-20 may determine that the second condition is satisfied if no downlink data is received form the source eNB 8-05 for a predetermined time (e.g., no more data transmissions between UE and source network node), may determine that the same has disconnected from the source eNB 8-05 (hence the second condition is satisfied before the timer is expired), and may disconnect therefrom).
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 UE continues receiving the one or more transmissions from the source network node of WALLENTIN, KIM and SHAH to include the UE continues the one or more non-user-plane UL transmissions toward the source network node until the UE determines that the all pending UL MAC retransmissions and the all pending UL RLC retransmissions to the source network node have been completed as taught by KIM in order to reduce data loss and data collision during the handover procedure (KIM - [0222] Even in such a case, the UE 8-20 may continue data transmission resulting from HARQ retransmission by the MAC device or resulting from retransmission by the AM-mode RLC layer device, in order to guarantee that there is no data loss to the source eNB 8-0... the source eNB 8-05 or the target eNB 8-10 may divide time and assign a transmission resource to the UE 8-20 such that the uplink transmission resource to the target eNB 8-10 and the uplink transmission resource to the source eNB 8-05 do not collide. If the uplink transmission resource to the target eNB 8-10 and the uplink transmission resource to the source eNB 8-05 collide and overlap, the UE 8-20 may prioritize the uplink transmission resource to the source eNB 8-05 and thereby transmit data to the source eNB, in order to maintain downlink data transmission from the source eNB 8-05, or in order to continuously receive the same with no problem).
Regarding claim 74, WALLENTIN further discloses:
wherein the sequence number status transfer uplink message (Fig. 15 – S14) identifies a next UL packet after a last UL packet successfully received by the source network node from the UE ([0101] In response to the handover complete message, the target base station 20T sends a Handover Success message to the source base station 20S indicating the wireless device has successfully established the target connection (S13). Upon reception of the Handover Success message, the source base station 20S stops scheduling any further DL or UL data to the wireless device 40 and sends a final SN Status Transfer message to target base station 20T indicating the latest PDCP SN and hyperframe number (HFN) transmitter and receiver status (S14)) before the UE transmitted the single explicit indication (Fig. 15 – S16-S18; [0102] The wireless device 40 releases the source connections... and responds with a RRCReconfigurationComplete message (S16, S17)... Once the path switch is completed the target node sends the UE Context Release message to the source node (S18)).
Claims 71, 73 and 75 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WALLENTIN and in view of KIM and in view of SHAH and further view of KIM et al. (US-20220386182-A1, hereinafter KIM’182).
Regarding claim 71, WALLENTIN further discloses:
wherein the UE transmission of the indication (Fig. 15 – S12) when the timer T expires (Fig. 15 – S16-18 (duration of time between S12-S16 before the source network is released).
WALLENTIN, KIM and SHAH do not explicitly disclose:
the UE suppresses transmission of the indication before the UE determines that all pending UL MAC retransmissions and all pending UL RLC retransmissions to the source network node have been completed.
However, KIM’182 discloses:
the UE suppresses transmission of the indication before the UE determines that all pending UL MAC retransmissions and all pending UL RLC retransmissions to the source network node have been completed ([0254] The UE may release the first bearer for the source gNB 1h-05 and release the connection with the source gNB 1h-05. Before the first bearer for the source gNB 1h-05 is released, the RLC re-establishment procedure may be performed on the RLC layer corresponding to the first bearer for the source gNB 1h-05 (for example, when the reordering timer is running, the timer may be stopped or initialized, and when the received data is stored in the buffer, the stored data may be processed and transmitted to the upper layer, or, when there is data to be transmitted in the buffer, the data may be discarded), or the MAC layer may be reset).
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 UE transmission of the indication when the timer T expires of WALLENTIN, KIM and SHAH to include the UE suppresses transmission of the indication before the UE determines that all pending UL MAC retransmissions and all pending UL RLC retransmissions to the source network node have been completed as taught by KIM’182 in order to prevent data loss by storing and transmitting data in the buffer or discard the stored data before releasing the source network node to switch the uplink to the target network node (KIM’182 - ([0254] The UE may release the first bearer for the source gNB 1h-05 and release the connection with the source gNB 1h-05. Before the first bearer for the source gNB 1h-05 is released, the RLC re-establishment procedure may be performed on the RLC layer corresponding to the first bearer for the source gNB 1h-05 (for example, when the reordering timer is running, the timer may be stopped or initialized, and when the received data is stored in the buffer, the stored data may be processed and transmitted to the upper layer, or, when there is data to be transmitted in the buffer, the data may be discarded), or the MAC layer may be reset; KIM - [0200] The PDCP layer device may indicate that the size or amount of data to be transmitted to the MAC layer device of the first bearer for the source eNB 8-05 is zero (or there is none), in order to switch uplink data transmission from the first bearer for the source eNB 8-05 to the second bearer for the target eNB 8-10).
Regarding claim 73, WALLENTIN further discloses:
wherein the single explicit indication (Fig. 15 – S12; [0100] Once the wireless device 40 has completed the random access with the target base station 20T, it switches the transmission of new and unacknowledged UL data PDCP Signaling Data Units (SDUs), for the bearers configured for DAPS, to the target base station 20T and sends a handover complete (a RRCReconfigurationComplete message) to the target base station (S11, S12)) causes the source network node to transmit the sequence number status transfer uplink message (Fig. 15 – S13-S14) to the target network node ([0101] In response to the handover complete message, the target base station 20T sends a Handover Success message to the source base station 20S indicating the wireless device has successfully established the target connection (S13). Upon reception of the Handover Success message, the source base station 20S stops scheduling any further DL or UL data to the wireless device 40 and sends a final SN Status Transfer message to target base station 20T indicating the latest PDCP SN and hyperframe number (HFN) transmitter and receiver status (S14)) over an Xn interface or an X2 interface ([0097] The source base station 20S initiates handover and sends a Handover Request to the target base station 20T over the Xn interface (S3); [0099] The source base station 20S sends a SN Status Transfer message to the target base station 20T... The Xn message for conveying the DL and (possibly) UL receiver status for early data transfer in the DAPS handover could either re-use the existing SN Status Transfer message (as indicated in the figure) or a new Early Forwarding Transfer message could be defined).
Regarding claim 75, WALLENTIN further discloses:
wherein, after the UL user-plane transmission is switched to the target network node (Fig. 15 – S11), the UE applies a security key of the target network node for UL transmission ([0070] FIG. 6 illustrates protocol stacks of a wireless device 40 configured to implement a DAPS handover. Each user plane radio bearer has an associated PDCP entity which in turn has two associated RLC entities—one for the source base station 20S and one for the target base station 20T. The PDCP entity uses different security keys and ROHC contexts for the source and target base station 20T while the sequence number (SN) allocation (for UL transmission) and re-ordering/duplication detection (for DL reception) is common) on a physical uplink shared channel (Fig. 15 – User Data after S12; [0057] The wireless device 40 transmits information to the base station 20 on physical UL channels. A physical UL channel corresponds to a set of REs carrying information originating from higher layers. The physical UL channels currently defined include the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) and the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH). The PUSCH is the UL counterpart to the PDSCH. The PUCCH is used by wireless devices 40 to transmit UL control information (UCI), including Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) acknowledgements, channel state information (CSI) reports, etc. The PRACH is used for random access preamble transmission) while the UE continues receiving downlink user data from both the source network node and the target network node during the DAPS handover (Fig. 5 – Reception of user data in source and target cells; [0098] Upon reception of the handover command with indication of a DAPS handover, the wireless device 40 starts synchronizing to the target base station 20T and reconfigures from PDCP packet duplication to DAPS with PDCP duplication (S6). For the bearers configured for DAPS, unlike in normal handover, the wireless device 40 keeps the connection with the source base station 20S and continues to exchange UL/DL data with the source base station even after it has received the handover command... In order to decrypt/encrypt DL/UL data, the wireless device 40 needs to maintain both the source and target security keys until the source base station 20S is released. The wireless device 40 can differentiate the security key to be used based on the cell which the DL/UL packet is received/transmitted on. If header compression is used the wireless device also needs to maintain two separate ROHC contexts for the source and target base station 20T).
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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/THERESA NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 2418
/Moo Jeong/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2418
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