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 .
Application, submitted on 02/12/2024, has been received, entered, and made of record. Currently, claims 16-35 remain pending in the application. Claims 1-15 have been canceled.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 02/12/2024 was filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner as indicated. However, Applicant has not provided an explanation of relevance of cited document(s).
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 16-21, 24-30, and 33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.103 as being unpatentable over Tsai et al. US 2022/0210798 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Tsai) in view of Wu US 2024/0323914 A1.
Referring to claim 16, Tsai discloses a user equipment (UE) (fig.13, UE 1300), comprising:
at least one memory (fig.13, memory 1334); and
at least one processor (fig.13, processor 1328) coupled with the at least one memory (fig.13) and configured to cause the UE to:
receive a message comprising an indication of a small data transmission (SDT) procedure ([0108]-[0109]) (Note: UE receives a CG configuration for SDT from a BS);
receive one or more reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds ([0210]) (Note: UE receives a configuration from NW (e.g., BS), wherein the configuration may indicate a first RSRP threshold and/or a second RSRP threshold); and
determine whether to initiate, in response to receiving the SDT indicator, an SDT procedure based at least in part on the one or more RSRP thresholds ([0210] and [0225]) (Note: The UE may initiate a SDT procedure based on a CG resource (e.g., provided by a CG configuration for SDT) in response to a RSRP of a DL pathloss reference being higher than the first RSRP threshold).
Tsai fails to explicitly disclose at least one processor configured to cause the UE to receive a paging message comprising an indication to initiate a small data transmission (SDT) procedure.
However, in the same field of endeavor of user equipment (UE) art, Wu discloses at least one processor (fig.1A, processing hardware 150) configured to cause the UE (fig.1A, UE 102) to receive a paging message comprising an indication to initiate a small data transmission (SDT) procedure ([0050]) (Note: If the UE is enabled by the RAN for early data communication (also called small data transmission) and the UE paging message indicates the UE 102 is to perform early data communication, the UE in the inactive state performs early data communication with the base station).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention by the applicant to modify the user equipment of Tsai with a processor configured to cause the UE to receive a paging message comprising an indication to initiate a small data transmission (SDT) procedure as taught by Wu. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to help UE avoid high power consumption associated with the full RRC connection setup and reconfiguration procedure, and reduce latency in transmission.
Referring to claim 17, Tsai in view of Wu discloses the UE of claim 16.
Wu discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to receive the paging message on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring occasion ([0069]) (Note: the UE 102 receives a paging DCI on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention by the applicant to modify the user equipment of Tsai with a processor is configured to cause the UE to receive the paging message on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring occasion as taught by Wu. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to improve efficiency by facilitating rapid, reliable, and secure message delivery in both idle and inactive states.
Referring to claim 18, Tsai in view of Wu discloses the UE of claim 16.
Tsai further discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to receive downlink data while in an inactive state in response to initiating the SDT procedure ([0094]-[0095]) (Note: while in an inactive state in response to initiating the SDT procedure, the UE receives transmission of multiple DL (downlink) packets as part of the SDT mechanism and without transitioning to RRC_CONNECTED).
Referring to claim 19, Tsai in view of Wu discloses the UE of claim 16.
Tsai discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to receive the one or more RSRP thresholds on a broadcast channel ([0005]) (Note: the RSRP thresholds are indicated in a configuration received (via a channel) wirelessly from the base station).
Referring to claim 20, Tsai in view of Wu discloses the UE of claim 16.
Tsai further discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to receive the one or more RSRP thresholds within a radio resource control (RRC) message ([0005], [0085] and [0112]) (Note: configuration, received from the base station, indicates a first reference signal received power (RSRP) threshold and a second RSRP threshold; wherein configuration may be provided in RRC reconfiguration).
Referring to claim 21, Tsai in view of Wu discloses the UE of claim 16.
Tsai discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to apply a different RSRP threshold to the SDT procedure triggered by the paging message than a different SDT procedure triggered by the UE ([0224]-[0225], and [0509]).
Referring to claim 24, Tsai in view of Wu discloses the UE of claim 16.
Tsai discloses wherein the SDT procedure comprises one of a configured grant (CG) SDT procedure and a random access channel (RACH) SDT procedure ([0042], [0083], [0098], [0309]) (Note: the reference discloses a CG-Based SDT and a RA-Based SDT).
Referring to claim 25, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 16 is applicable herein.
Referring to claim 26, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 17 is applicable herein.
Referring to claim 27, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 18 is applicable herein.
Referring to claim 28, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 19 is applicable herein.
Referring to claim 29, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 20 is applicable herein.
Referring to claim 30, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 21 is applicable herein.
Referring to claim 33, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 24 is applicable herein.
Claims 22 and 31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.103 as being unpatentable over Tsai in view of Wu, and further in view of Kim et al. US 2023/0083985 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Kim).
Referring to claim 22, Tsai in view of Wu discloses the UE of claim 16, except wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to set a radio resource control (RRC) resume cause to a value representing an indication that the SDT procedure is initiated based on the received paging message.
However, in the same field of endeavor of user equipment (UE) art, Kim discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to set a radio resource control (RRC) resume cause to a value representing an indication that the SDT procedure is initiated based on the received paging message ([0302]-[0303]) (Note: based on the received paging message, the UE may initiate the RACH procedure for small data transmission (SDT) in RRC-INACTIVE state; wherein the UE may include RRC resume cause (for small data transmission in RRC-INACTIVE) in the RRC EDT Request message).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention by the applicant to modify the user equipment of Tsai in view of Wu with a processor configured to cause the UE to set a radio resource control (RRC) resume cause to a value representing an indication that the SDT procedure is initiated based on the received paging message as taught by Kim. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to allow user equipment (UE) in the RRC_INACTIVE state to transmit small data packets without transitioning to the RRC_CONNECTED state, and optimize both performance and resource utilization.
Referring to claim 31, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 22 is applicable herein
Claims 23 and 32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.103 as being unpatentable over Tsai in view of Wu, and further in view of Kumar et al. US 2023/0328688 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Kumar).
Referring to claim 23, Tsai in view of Wu discloses the UE of claim 16, except wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to set a radio resource control (RRC) resume cause to a value representing a mobile terminal access (mt-Access) indication in an RRC resume request message.
However, in the same field of endeavor of user equipment (UE) art, Kumar discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to set a radio resource control (RRC) resume cause to a value representing a mobile terminal access (mt-Access) indication in an RRC resume request message ([0099]-[0100]) (Note: the UE (200) sets the cause values (i.e. RRC establishment cause, RRC resume cause or RRC-reestablishment cause values) as “MT-access” which indicates that the access is due to a response of the paging message to the wireless network device).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention by the applicant to modify the user equipment of Tsai in view of Wu with a processor configured to cause the UE to set a radio resource control (RRC) resume cause to a value representing a mobile terminal access (mt-Access) indication in an RRC resume request message as taught by Kumar. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to allow the user equipment (UE) to inform the network that the connection is being resumed to accept incoming data.
Referring to claim 32, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 23 is applicable herein
Claims 34-35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.103 as being unpatentable over Shih et al. US 2022/0022276 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Shih) in view of Tsai et al. US 2022/0210798 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Tsai).
Referring to claim 34, Shih discloses a network equipment (NE) (fig.3, communication device 300), comprising:
at least one memory (fig.3, memory 310); and
at least one processor (fig.3, central processing unit (CPU) 308) coupled with the at least one memory (fig.3, and [0044]) and configured to cause the NE to:
transmit a paging message comprising an indication to initiate a small data transmission (SDT) procedure ([0471]) (Note: the network (entity) may transmit a paging message (associated with triggering the SDT procedure) to the UE; wherein the paging message transmitted to the UE may comprise a first indication (e.g., a flag) indicating initiation of the SDT procedure); and
receive a radio resource control (RRC) message indicating that the SDT procedure is initiated ([0471] and [0477]) (Note: In response to receiving the paging message on a Cell, the UE performs the SDT procedure on the indicated UL BWP of the Cell based on the first indication and/or the second indication; wherein UL BWPs for SDT are configured in RRC indicating that the SDT procedure is initiated).
Shih fails to disclose at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the NE to: transmit one or more reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Tsai discloses at least one processor (fig.13, processor 1328) coupled with the at least one memory (fig.13, memory 1334) and configured to cause the NE (fig.13, node 1300) to: transmit one or more reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds ([0210]) (Note: UE receives a configuration from NW (e.g., BS); wherein the configuration may indicate a first RSRP threshold and/or a second RSRP threshold).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention by the applicant to modify the network entity of Shih with a processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the NE to: transmit one or more reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds as taught by Tsai. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to improve battery efficiency for the UE.
Referring to claim 35, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 34 is applicable herein
Conclusion
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/MOUSTAPHA DIABY/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683