DETAILED ACTION
This action is a response to an application filed on 2/22/24 in which claims 1-20 are pending.
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 .
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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Alfarhan et al. (WO 2021/207467), herein Alfarhan and Kim et al. (Pub. No.: 2023/0247721), herein Kim.
As to claim 1, Alfarhan teaches a method for preconfigured resource-based small data transmission (SDT), comprising:
transmitting, by a terminal device, a first message after selecting a configured grant (CG)-SDT (Alfarhan [0114] In one embodiment, referring to FIG. 2, a WTRU may receive configuration information including one or more UL CGs (e.g., for SDT), one or more DL CGs (e.g., for SDT), and/or one or more TBS thresholds (e.g., for SDT). The WTRU may determine, for the DL data transmission(s), a TBS, a HARQ feedback, and/or a DRB. The WTRU may determine whether to remain in Inactive mode and send HARQ feedback for the DL data transmission(s) (e.g., DL SDT) using an UL SDT resource (e.g., PUSCH resource), or to initiate random access (RA) to request an RRC connection (or RRC reconnection) based on, for example, the determined DL TBS, the determined HARQ feedback, DL DRB SDT support, and/or an UL time alignment. For example, on condition that the determined TBS is less thanthe TBS threshold, and/or the DRB supports SDT, the WTRU may send the HARQ feedback on the UL CG for SDT (e.g., as UCI on PUSCH))
wherein the first message comprises a 1st uplink message sent during the SDT, and the 1st uplink message at least comprises a radio resource control (RRC) message (Alfarhan [0114] using an UL SDT resource (e.g., PUSCH resource), orto initiate random access (RA) to request an RRC connection (or RRC reconnection) based on, for example, the determined DL TBS, the determined HARQ feedback, DL DRB SDT support, and/or an UL time alignment)
Alfarhan does not teach
during operation of a first timer
However Kim does teach
during operation of a first timer (Kim [0373] A wireless device may start a timer alignment timer (TAT) associated with the CG-SDT resources)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Alfarhan and Kim, because Kim teaches us [0365] The UE may determine the timing alignment value for small data transmission for configured uplink grant to being valid based on TA validation conditions for configured uplink grant being met. The TA validation conditions for configured uplink grant may comprise at least one of: the time alignment timer for configured uplink grant is running;
As to claim 10, Alfarhan teaches a method for preconfigured resource-based small data transmission (SDT), comprising:
configuring, by a network device, so that the terminal device transmits a first message (Alfarhan [0114] In one embodiment, referring to FIG. 2, a WTRU may receive configuration information including one or more UL CGs (e.g., for SDT), one or more DL CGs (e.g., for SDT), and/or one or more TBS thresholds (e.g., for SDT). The WTRU may determine, for the DL data transmission(s), a TBS, a HARQ feedback, and/or a DRB. The WTRU may determine whether to remain in Inactive mode and send HARQ feedback for the DL data transmission(s) (e.g., DL SDT) using an UL SDT resource (e.g., PUSCH resource), or to initiate random access (RA) to request an RRC connection (or RRC reconnection) based on, for example, the determined DL TBS, the determined HARQ feedback, DL DRB SDT support, and/or an UL time alignment. For example, on condition that the determined TBS is less thanthe TBS threshold, and/or the DRB supports SDT, the WTRU may send the HARQ feedback on the UL CG for SDT (e.g., as UCI on PUSCH))
and receiving, by the network device, the first message, wherein the first message comprises a 1st uplink message sent during SDT, and the 1st uplink message at least comprises a radio resource control (RRC) message (Alfarhan [0114] using an UL SDT resource (e.g., PUSCH resource), orto initiate random access (RA) to request an RRC connection (or RRC reconnection) based on, for example, the determined DL TBS, the determined HARQ feedback, DL DRB SDT support, and/or an UL time alignment)
Alfarhan does not teach
a duration of a first timer for a terminal device
during operation of the first timer
However Kim does teach
a duration of a first timer for a terminal device (Kim [0373] A wireless device may start a timer alignment timer (TAT) associated with the CG-SDT resources)
during operation of the first timer (Kim [0373] A wireless device may start a timer alignment timer (TAT) associated with the CG-SDT resources)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Alfarhan and Kim for the same reasons stated in claim 1.
As to claim 13, Alfarhan teaches a terminal device comprising:
a transceiver (Alfarhan Fig. 1B transceiver);
a memory configured to store computer programs (Alfarhan Fig. 1B memory); and
a processor configured to execute the computer programs stored in the memory to cause the transceiver to (Alfarhan Fig. 1B processor):
transmit a first message after selecting a configured grant (CG)-SDT Alfarhan [0114] In one embodiment, referring to FIG. 2, a WTRU may receive configuration information including one or more UL CGs (e.g., for SDT), one or more DL CGs (e.g., for SDT), and/or one or more TBS thresholds (e.g., for SDT). The WTRU may determine, for the DL data transmission(s), a TBS, a HARQ feedback, and/or a DRB. The WTRU may determine whether to remain in Inactive mode and send HARQ feedback for the DL data transmission(s) (e.g., DL SDT) using an UL SDT resource (e.g., PUSCH resource), or to initiate random access (RA) to request an RRC connection (or RRC reconnection) based on, for example, the determined DL TBS, the determined HARQ feedback, DL DRB SDT support, and/or an UL time alignment. For example, on condition that the determined TBS is less thanthe TBS threshold, and/or the DRB supports SDT, the WTRU may send the HARQ feedback on the UL CG for SDT (e.g., as UCI on PUSCH))
wherein the first message comprises a 1st uplink message sent during the SDT, and the 1st uplink message at least comprises a radio resource control (RRC) message (Alfarhan [0114] using an UL SDT resource (e.g., PUSCH resource), orto initiate random access (RA) to request an RRC connection (or RRC reconnection) based on, for example, the determined DL TBS, the determined HARQ feedback, DL DRB SDT support, and/or an UL time alignment)
Alfarhan does not teach
during operation of a first timer
However Kim does teach
during operation of a first timer (Kim [0373] A wireless device may start a timer alignment timer (TAT) associated with the CG-SDT resources)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Alfarhan and Kim for the same reasons stated in claim 1.
As to claim 2, the combination of Alfarhan and Kim teach the method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting the first message on a CG resource or a dynamic grant (DG) resource scheduled for retransmission by a network device, during the operation of the first timer and before receiving a correct reception feedback from the network device (Alfarhan [00117] sending a RRC request on a CG (before feedback from network)
Claim 14 is rejected for the same reasons stated in claim 2.
As to claim 3, the combination of Alfarhan and Kim teach the method of claim 2, wherein transmitting the first message on the CG resource, during the operation of the first timer and before receiving the correct reception feedback from the network device comprises:
transmitting the first message on a CG resource with a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process the same as a 1st transmission of the first message, during the operation of the first timer and before receiving the correct reception feedback from the network device (Alfarhan [0116] sending HARQ feedback)
Claim 15 is rejected for the same reasons stated in claim 3.
As to claim 4, the combination of Alfarhan and Kim teach the method of claim 2, further comprising: stopping transmitting the first message on the CG resource when the correct reception feedback is received from the network device; or retransmitting the first message on the CG resource when a second timer expires or is not in operation (Alfarhan [0354] when the CG response window timer expires the UE may retransmit via an uplink grant for retransmission and re start the CG response window)
Claims 11 and 16 are rejected for the same reasons stated in claim 4.
As to claim 5, the combination of Alfarhan and Kim teach the method of claim 1, further comprising: entering, by the terminal device, an RRC idle state upon expiration of the first timer and without receiving a correct reception feedback from a network device (Alfarhan [0361]-[0363] a device may transition to RRC idle after the expiration of a SDT failure detection and receiving a rejection indication from a base station)
Claims 17 are rejected for the same reasons stated in claim 5.
As to claim 6, the combination of Alfarhan and Kim teach the method of claim 1, further comprising: terminating a current SDT if no correct reception feedback is received from a network device after a number of transmissions and/or a transmission duration of the first message satisfies a failure condition, during the operation of the first timer (Alfarhan [0361]-[0363] SDT failure may be detected after max retransmission failure)
As to claim 7, the combination of Alfarhan and Kim teach the method of claim 1, further comprising: falling back to a random access (RA)-SDT or a random access channel (RACH) procedure, if no correct reception feedback is received from a network device after a number of transmissions and/or a transmission duration of the first message satisfies a failure condition, during the operation of the first timer (Kim [0371] Based on not receiving any downlink message until the CG response window timer being expired, the UE in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state may consider the CG based SDT being failed. Based on considering the CG based SDT being failed, the UE may perform random access procedure. For example, the random access procedure may comprise RACH procedure for RACH based SDT)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Alfarhan and Kim for the same reasons stated in claim 1.
Claims 19 is rejected for the same reasons stated in claim 7.
As to claim 8, the combination of Alfarhan and Kim teach the method of claim 6, wherein the failure condition comprises at least one of: the number of transmissions of the first message reaching a threshold; and a third timer expiring, wherein the third timer is used to time an attempt to transmit the first message (Alfarhan [0361]-[0363] SDT failure may be detected after max retransmission failure and a SDT timer expiring)
As to claim 9, the combination of Alfarhan and Kim teach the method of claim 7, wherein falling back to the RA-SDT or the RACH procedure comprises: falling back to the RA-SDT when an execution condition of the RA-SDT is satisfied; and falling back to the RACH procedure when the execution condition of the RA-SDT is not satisfied (Kim [0371] Based on not receiving any downlink message until the CG response window timer being expired, the UE in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state may consider the CG based SDT being failed. Based on considering the CG based SDT being failed, the UE may perform random access procedure. For example, the random access procedure may comprise RACH procedure for RACH based SDT)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Alfarhan and Kim for the same reasons stated in claim 1.
As to claim 12, the combination of Alfarhan and Kim teach the method of claim 10, further comprising: configuring, by the network device, a duration of a third timer for the terminal device, wherein the duration of the third timer indicates a failure condition of a transmission duration of the first message (Alfarhan [0361]-[0363] SDT failure may be detected after max retransmission failure and a SDT timer expiring)
and/or configuring, by the network device, a threshold of a number of transmissions of the first message, wherein the threshold of the number of transmissions of the first message indicates a failure condition of the number of transmissions of the first message.
As to claim 18, the combination of Alfarhan and Kim teach the terminal device of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to: terminate a current SDT if no correct reception feedback is received from a network device after a number of transmissions and/or a transmission duration of the first message satisfies a failure condition, during the operation of the first timer (Alfarhan [0361]-[0363] SDT failure may be detected after max retransmission failure and a SDT timer expiring)
As to claim 20, the combination of Alfarhan and Kim teach the terminal device of claim 18, wherein the failure condition comprises at least one of: the number of transmissions of the first message reaching a threshold; and a third timer expiring, wherein the third timer is used to time an attempt to transmit the first message (Alfarhan [0361]-[0363] SDT failure may be detected after max retransmission failure and a SDT timer expiring)
Conclusion
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AYANAH S. GEORGE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2467
/AYANAH S GEORGE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467