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 .
The instant First Office Action on the merits is in response to claims filed on 1/16/2024.
Claims 1-3, 5, 8-13, 16-18, 20-21 and 24-28 are pending. Claims 1, 11 and 21 are the base independent claims.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 8/20/2025, 7/5/2024 was filed before the mailing of a first Office action on the merits. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97(b). Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) is acknowledged.
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copies of papers required under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) have been filed.
Claim Objections
Claims 11 and 21 are objected to because of the following issues:
Claims 11 and 21 recite acronyms “PDCP,” “PDU,” and “MBS.” This is the first time these acronyms are mentioned in their respective base claims. Therefore, it is recommended to spell the acronyms out in full term followed by the acronym in parentheses as in claim 1.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 / 103
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-3, 5, 8-13, 16-18, 20-21 and 24-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as anticipated by LIU et al (WO 2022/206983, citation is based on English translation) or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over LIU et al (WO 2022/206983).
Regarding claim 1, LIU discloses a data transmission method, performed by a base station, comprising:
determining, by the base station (fig. 5 & page 59, [0160]), a first multicast broadcast service (MBS) service (page 56, [0154]; page 84, [0222]; e.g. network device sends broadcast or multicast services using PDCP PDU); and
transmitting numbering information (page 52, [0144]; page 57, [0156]; e.g. hyerframe number (HFN), COUNT information, sequence number (SN), and etc.) of a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) data protocol data unit (PDU) of the first MBS service to a terminal (fig. 5 & page 58, [0157]-[0162]; e.g. the terminal device receives PDCP PDU carries HFN information or COUNT information).
Regarding claim 2, LIU discloses:
wherein the transmitting the numbering information of the PDCP data PDU of the first MBS service to the terminal comprises:
transmitting the numbering information of the PDCP data PDU of the first MBS service to the terminal through a message header of the PDCP data PDU (page 58, [0157]; PDU header);
or,
transmitting the numbering information of the PDCP data PDU of the first MBS service to the terminal through a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) control protocol data unit (PDU) (page 84, [0222]; e.g. PDCP control PDU);
or,
transmitting, by the base station, a radio resource control (RRC) message, the RRC message carrying the numbering information of the PDCP data PDU of the first MBS service (page 84, [0222]; e.g. RRC);
or (examining note: since the claim shows a limitation in an alternative form, the prior art may teach either or both limitations, and this notice applies to subsequent occurrences of claim limitations that are in the alternative form),
transmitting the numbering information of the PDCP data PDU of the first MBS service to the terminal through a dedicated resource or a shared resource (see examining note).
Regarding claim 3, LIU discloses:
wherein the message header of the PDCP data PDU further comprises a predetermined indication bit for indicating whether the message header comprises data packet numbering information (page 123, [0381]; e.g. when the value of the bit is "1", the indicated PDCP PDU contains HFN information).
Regarding claim 5, LIU discloses:
the PDCP control PDU comprises PDU type information; and the PDU type information indicates that the PDCP control PDU is used for transmitting the numbering information of the PDCP data PDU (page 84, [0222]; e.g. PDCP control PDU).
Regarding claim 8, LIU discloses:
determining, by the base station, whether a predetermined trigger condition is satisfied; and transmitting the numbering information of the PDCP data PDU of the first MBS service to the terminal in case that the predetermined trigger condition is satisfied (page 86, [0229]; e.g. if a first preset condition is met, the network device sends the first information in a broadcast and/or multicast manner).
Regarding claim 9, LIU discloses:
wherein the predetermined trigger condition comprises at least one of:
a predetermined trigger period; resetting of PDCP sequence number occurring in two adjacent PDCP data PDU transmissions; or subsequent to transmitting the PDCP data PDU of the first MBS service for the first time, monitoring that the terminal is a terminal that receives the PDCP data PDU for the first time (page 136, [0431]; e.g. if the time of sending a PDCP PDU carrying HFN or COUNT information exceeds a preset threshold).
Regarding claim 10, LIU discloses:
wherein the numbering information comprises: a numbering COUNT value of the PDCP data PDU, a hyper frame number (HFN) of the PDCP data PDU, or both the numbering COUNT value of the PDCP data PDU and the HFN of the PDCP data PDU (page 52, [0144]; page 57, [0156]; e.g. hyerframe number (HFN), COUNT information, sequence number (SN), and etc.).
Regarding claim 11, LIU discloses a data transmission method, performed by a terminal, comprising:
receiving, by the terminal (fig. 5 & page 59, [0160]), a PDCP data PDU of a first MBS service (page 56, [0154]; page 84, [0222]; e.g. network device sends broadcast or multicast services using PDCP PDU) and numbering information (page 52, [0144]; page 57, [0156]; e.g. hyerframe number (HFN), COUNT information, sequence number (SN), and etc.) of the PDCP data PDU that are transmitted by a base station (fig. 5 & page 58, [0157]-[0162]; e.g. the terminal device receives PDCP PDU carries HFN information or COUNT information); and
checking and decrypting the received PDCP data PDU based on the numbering information, or transmitting a PDCP status report to the base station, the PDCP status report comprising the numbering information (page 55, [0153]; page 136, [0430]-[0434]; e.g. the terminal device decodes the PDCP PDU according to the first instruction information).
Regarding claim 12, LIU discloses:
wherein the receiving, by the terminal, the numbering information of the PDCP data PDU transmitted by the base station comprises:
receiving the numbering information of the PDCP data PDU transmitted by the base station through a message header of the PDCP data PDU (page 58, [0157]; PDU header);
or,
receiving the numbering information of the PDCP data PDU transmitted by the base station through a PDCP control PDU (page 84, [0222]; e.g. PDCP control PDU);
or,
receiving, an RRC message transmitted by the base station, the RRC message carrying the numbering information of the PDCP data PDU of the first MBS service (page 84, [0222]; e.g. PDCP control PDU).
Regarding claim 13, LIU discloses:
wherein the message header of the PDCP data PDU further comprises a predetermined indication bit for indicating whether the message header comprises data packet numbering information (page 123, [0381]; e.g. when the value of the bit is "1", the indicated PDCP PDU contains HFN information).
Regarding claims 16-18 and 20, the claims are depending on claim 1 above and have a similar patent scope, therefore the rejection mapping for claims 1-3 and 8-9 are applicable.
Regarding claims 24 and 25, LIU discloses a non-transitory computer readable medium related to claims 1 and 11 ([0539]; e.g. memory).
Regarding claims 21 and 26-28, LIU discloses a terminal related to the method claim 1 similar to the rejection mapping above and LIU further discloses a memory, a processor and a transceiver for performing the method (see [0538]-[0539]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YAOTANG WANG whose telephone number is (571)272-4023. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00-18:00 ET (M, W, TH & alternate F).
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/YAOTANG WANG/SCE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409