DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to applicant’s response filed 11/14/2025 in response to a final office action. Claims 1-14 are subject to examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claims 1-3, 6-10, and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chiu et al. (US 2024/0155421 A1, hereinafter “Chiu”) in view of Wu et al. (US 2025/0008508 A1, hereinafter “Wu”).
Regarding Claim 1, Chiu teaches a method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving a first threshold via radio resource control (RRC) signaling (Chiu: A method for reporting a remaining delay budget information, adapted to a user equipment, wherein the method including: receiving a radio resource control configuration; the threshold of remaining delay budget … is configured by the radio resource control configuration, see paragraphs [0005] and [0008]);
determining whether at least one of one or more delay budgets of one or more packets buffered in a first logical channel group (LCG) is below the first threshold (Chiu: the radio resource control configuration indicates the user equipment to report the remaining delay budget information of a logical channel or a logical channel group through a status report message; determining whether a triggering condition is met includes: a remaining delay budget is below or equal to the threshold of remaining delay budget, see paragraphs [0005] and [0006]); and
in a case that the at least one of the one or more delay budgets of the one or more packets buffered in the first LCG is below the first threshold: triggering a first delay information reporting (DR), determining whether at least one uplink resource is available for a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for the first DR, and in a case that the at least one UL resource is available for the MAC CE for the first DR, generating the MAC CE and including delay information for the first LCG in the MAC CE, and transmitting the MAC CE on the at least one UL resource (Chiu: in response to the triggering condition being met, transmitting the status report message including the remaining delay budget information; the radio resource control configuration further indicates … a media access control element format of the status report message; a UE may transmit a BSR to a base station through UL radio resources of the base station if the UL radio resources are available, see paragraphs [0005], [0009], [0065]).
Chiu does not explicitly teach delay information that indicates a first delay range.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Wu teaches delay information that indicates a first delay range (Wu: the UE reports the remaining PDB of the data packet in the buffer of the LCH (or LCG), see paragraph [0092]; a range of the remaining PDB is reported to the base station, see paragraph [0119]; the base station instructs the UE to report the remaining PDB of the data packet in the current buffer through a dedicated signaling ...The dedicated signaling may be borne by an MAC CE, see paragraph [0170]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Chiu to include the features as taught by Wu above in order to reduce signaling overhead (Wu: see paragraph [0129]).
Regarding Claim 2, Chiu-Wu teaches the method of claim 1.
Wu further teaches, the delay information that indicates the first delay range for the first LCG indicates a smallest delay budget within the first LCG (Wu: a range of the remaining PDB is reported to the base station, see paragraph [0119]; The smallest remaining PDB values among remaining PDB values of various data packets are reported to the base station, see paragraph [0150]).
The rationale and motivation for adding the teaching of Wu is the same as the rationale and motivation for Claim 1.
Regarding Claim 3, Chiu-Wu teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the MAC CE includes information associated with a number of LCGs corresponding to the delay information (Chiu: A UE may provide a new MAC control element (CE) to a base station ... to report remaining delay budget information such as one or more remaining delay budgets of one or more LCHs (or LCGs), see paragraph [0059]).
Regarding Claim 6, Chiu-Wu teaches the method of claim 1, and determining whether the at least one uplink resource is available for the MAC CE for the first DR comprises determining whether the at least one uplink resource is available for the MAC CE for the first DR and the second DR (Chiu: A UE may provide a new MAC control element (CE) to a base station ... to report remaining delay budget information such as one or more remaining delay budgets of one or more LCHs (or LCGs), see paragraph [0059]; a UE may transmit a BSR to a base station through UL radio resources of the base station if the UL radio resources are available, see paragraph [0065]);
and in a case that the at least one UL resource is available for the MAC CE for the first DR and the second DR, further including, in the MAC CE, the delay information for the second LCG (Chiu: A UE may provide a new MAC control element (CE) to a base station ... to report remaining delay budget information such as one or more remaining delay budgets of one or more LCHs (or LCGs), see paragraph [0059]).
Wu further teaches receiving a second threshold via the RRC signaling (Wu: the threshold is predefined as a fixed value, or preconfigured by the base station through an RRC signaling, see paragraph [0239]);
determining whether at least one of one or more delay budgets of one or more packets buffered in a second LCG is below the second threshold (Wu: the base station configures a dedicated SR resource for a case where there is a data packet, having a remaining PDB with a remaining PDB value smaller than the predetermined threshold, in the buffer of each LCG, see paragraph [0211]; The values of remaining PDBs smaller than a second predetermined threshold ... are reported to the base station, see paragraph [0148]); and
in a case that the at least one of the one or more delay budgets of the one or more packets buffered in the second LCG is below the second threshold: triggering a second DR (Wu: The values of remaining PDBs smaller than a second predetermined threshold ... are reported to the base station, see paragraph [0148]), wherein delay information indicates a second delay range for the second LCG (Wu: a range of the remaining PDB is reported to the base station, see paragraph [0119]).
The rationale and motivation for adding the teaching of Wu is the same as the rationale and motivation for Claim 1.
Regarding Claim 7, Chiu-Wu teaches the method of claim 6.
Though Chiu teaches delay information for the second LCG (Chiu: A UE may ... report remaining delay budget information ... of one or more LCHs (or LCGs), see paragraph [0059]), Chiu does not explicitly teach delay information that indicates a delay range for the LCG indicates a smallest delay budget.
Wu further teaches, the delay information that indicates the delay range for the LCG indicates a smallest delay budget within the LCG (Wu: a range of the remaining PDB is reported to the base station, see paragraph [0119]; The smallest remaining PDB values among remaining PDB values of various data packets are reported to the base station, see paragraph [0150]).
The rationale and motivation for adding the teaching of Wu is the same as the rationale and motivation for Claim 1.
Regarding Claim 8, Chiu teaches a user equipment (UE), comprising: at least one processor (Chiu: The UE may include a processor, a storage medium, and a transceiver, see paragraph [0082]);
and at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the at least one processor and storing one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the UE to: receive a first threshold via radio resource control (RRC) signaling (Chiu: The processor is coupled to the storage medium and the transceiver and is configured to access and execute a plurality of modules stored in the storage medium; The processor is coupled to the transceiver and configured to: receive, via the transceiver, a radio resource control configuration; the threshold of remaining delay budget … is configured by the radio resource control configuration, see paragraphs [0082], [0024], and [0008]);
determine whether at least one of one or more delay budgets of one or more packets buffered in a first logical channel group (LCG) is below the first threshold (Chiu: wherein the radio resource control configuration indicates the user equipment to report remaining delay budget information of a logical channel or a logical channel group through a status report message; determine whether a triggering condition is met, wherein the triggering condition is associated with a threshold of remaining delay budget, see paragraph [0024]; determining whether a triggering condition is met includes: a remaining delay budget is below or equal to the threshold of remaining delay budget, see paragraph [0006]); and
in a case that the at least one of the one or more delay budgets of the one or more packets buffered in the first LCG is below the first threshold: trigger a first delay information reporting (DR), determine whether at least one uplink resource is available for a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for the first DR, and in a case that the at least one UL resource is available for the MAC CE for the first DR, generate the MAC CE and include delay information for the first LCG, and transmit the MAC CE on the at least one UL resource (Chiu: and in response to the triggering condition being met, transmit, via the transceiver, the status report message including the remaining delay budget information, wherein the remaining delay budget information indicates at least one remaining delay budget and at least one associated buffer size, see paragraph [0024]; the radio resource control configuration further indicates … a media access control element format of the status report message; see paragraph [0009]; a UE may transmit a BSR to a base station through UL radio resources of the base station if the UL radio resources are available, see paragraph [0065]).
Chiu does not explicitly teach delay information that indicates a first delay range.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Wu teaches delay information that indicates a first delay range (Wu: the UE reports the remaining PDB of the data packet in the buffer of the LCH (or LCG), see paragraph [0092]; a range of the remaining PDB is reported to the base station, see paragraph [0119]; the base station instructs the UE to report the remaining PDB of the data packet in the current buffer through a dedicated signaling ...The dedicated signaling may be borne by an MAC CE, see paragraph [0170]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Chiu to include the features as taught by Wu above in order to reduce signaling overhead (Wu: see paragraph [0129]).
Regarding Claims 9 and 10, the limitations of claims 9 and 10 are substantially the same as the limitations of claims 2 and 3, and claims 9 and 10 are therefore rejected for the same reasons.
Regarding Claims 13 and 14, the limitations of claims 13 and 14 are substantially the same as the limitations of claims 6 and 7, and claims 13 and 14 are therefore rejected for the same reasons.
Claims 4-5 and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chiu-Wu in view of Khoshkholgh Dashtaki et al. (US 2024/0284375 A1, hereinafter “KD”).
Regarding Claim 4, Chiu-Wu teaches the method of claim 1.
Wu further teaches, before transmitting the MAC CE: determining buffer information indicating an amount of data for transmission in the first LCG based on the amount of data (Wu: The BSR counts the total size of all data packets in the corresponding buffer, see paragraph [0187]); and
including, in addition to the delay information, the buffer information in the MAC CE (Wu: one MAC CE contains at least one of ... the total amount of data of the buffer of the LCG (Buffer size), the remaining PDB of data packets in the buffer of the LCG (Remaining PDB), see paragraph [0249]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Chiu to include the features as taught by Wu above in order to reduce signaling overhead (Wu: see paragraph [0129]).
Chiu-Wu does not explicitly teach, determining buffer information based a first mapping table.
However, in the same field of endeavor, KD teaches, determining buffer information based on a first mapping table (KD: the buffer size, corresponding to the first logical channel being in the at least one logical channel, is based on the first BSR table, see paragraph [0470]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Chiu-Wu to include the features as taught by KD above in order to generate enhanced BSR reports and enable more efficient allocation of UL resources to the wireless device for transmission of the UL data (KD: see paragraph [0289]).
Regarding Claim 5, Chiu-Wu-KD teaches the method of claim 4.
KD further teaches, selecting the first mapping table from a plurality of pre-defined mapping tables (KD: the one or more radio resource control configuration parameters indicate a first buffer status report (BSR) table of a plurality of BSR tables, see paragraph [0470]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Chiu-Wu to include the features as taught by KD above in order to select a table that allows for the most refined BSR mapping (KD: see paragraph [0470]).
Regarding Claims 11 and 12, the limitations of claims 11 and 11 are substantially the same as the limitations of claims 4 and 5, and claims 11 and 12 are therefore rejected for the same reasons.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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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/P.K./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416