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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 6/6/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rossbach et al (us 2024/0187919) (hereinafter Rossbach) in view of Sagfors et al (us 2007/0019553) (hereinafter Sagfors).
As regarding claim 1, Rossbach discloses receiving a first Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) service data unit (SDU) from an upper layer, wherein a concatenation timer is started upon the first PDCP SDU is received based on the concatenation timer not being running (see Rossbach 0107-0108, start a timer upon receiving packet such as SDU, also see Rossbach 0063, concatenation can apply in either downlink or uplink); receiving a second PDCP SDU from the upper layer (see Rossbach 0107-0108, receive additional packets); generating a PDCP protocol data unit (PDU) including the first PDCP SDU and the second PDCP SDU, based on the concatenation timer being running (see Rossbach 0107-0109, concatenation is activated or deactivated, SDU received before the timer expired, concatenating SDUs to form a PDU, also see 0036, PDU has multiple concatenated SDU); applying ciphering to the PDCP PDU (see Rossbach 0084, perform ciphering after concatenation); and submitting the PDCP PDU to a lower layer (see Rossbach 0087, providing PDU to the lower layer).
Rossbach is silent in regard to the concept of the concatenation timer is stopped upon the PDCP PDU is submitted.
Sagfors teaches the concept of the concatenation timer is stopped upon the PDCP PDU is submitted (see Sagfors 0026,0028, stop the timer, PDU is readout, which include moving PDU to transmission unit for convey PDU out of the node/device).
It would have been obvious to one with an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Sagfors to Rossbach because they're analogous art. A person would have been motivated to modify Rossbach with Sagfors’ teaching for the purpose of efficiently processing concatenation of SDUs.
As regarding claim 2, Rossbach-Sagfors discloses based on the concatenation timer being expired, generating the PDCP PDU including the first PDCP SDU (see Rossbach 0107-0108, 0110 concatenate SDUs into PDU, received SDUs are continued to concatenate if timer is not expire, this implies that the PDU is generated or created when the timer expired), wherein the concatenation timer is restarted upon the concatenation timer is stopped (see Rossbach 0107, activate and deactivate concatenation, and concatenation is based on a timer (Rossbach 0108), it is obvious that the timer is restart if the concatenation is activate again).
As regarding claim 3, Rossbach-Sagfors discloses configuring a maximum size of PDCP SDUs included in the PDCP PDU, wherein, based on a total size of the first PDCP SDU and the second PDCP SDU being equal to or less than the maximum size, the PDCP PDU including the first PDCP SDU and the second PDCP SDU is generated (see Rossbach 0060-0063, maximum size of PDU which includes multiple SDUs).
As regarding claim 4, Rossbach-Sagfors discloses a first discard timer for the first PDCP SDU is started upon receiving the first PDCP SDU, a second discard timer for the second PDCP SDU is started upon receiving the second PDCP SDU, based on all of the first discard timer and the second discard timer being expired, a discard of the PDCP PDU is indicated to the lower layer (see Rossbach 0107, activate and deactivate concatenation, and concatenation is based on a timer (Rossbach 0108), it is obvious that the multiple timers can be started for multiple received SDUs and also expire of multiple timers, also see Sagfors 0028, the timer/s are expired PDU is readout, which include moving PDU to transmission unit for convey PDU out of the node/device). The same motivation was utilized in claim 1 applied equally well to claim 4.
As regarding claims 5-10, limitations of claims 5-10 are similar to limitations of rejected claims 1-4 above, therefore rejected for the same rationale. Rossbach-Sagfors further discloses a transceiver, a processor and a memory (see Rossbach 0152).
Conclusion
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/DUYEN M DOAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2459