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.
Claims 27-29 and 36-38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Pub. 2022/0264517 to Liu et al. in view of U.S. Patent Pub. 2024/0430940 to Yue et al. and U.S. Patent Pub. 2022/0286355 to Park et al.
Regarding the feature of independent claims 27and 36 of “receiving, from a second network device, a first paging message comprising first information related to a mobile-terminated small data transmission (MT-SDT)”, Liu et al. teaches a first network device (BS1) receiving a paging message from a second network device (BS2) comprising of a machine-terminated early data transmission (MT-EDT) indication after BS2 receives MT downlink data that may include a small amount of data(see sections [0050] through [0054] and fig. 3). It is generally understood in the art that early data transmission (first introduced in 3GPP Release 15) is one of the mechanisms standardized by 3GPP to handle small data bursts while the UE stays in an idle or inactive state. Small data transmission and, more specifically, mobile-terminated small data transmission were later standardized as terms in 3GPP Releases 17 and 18 respectively.
However, for the sake of completeness, as it does not explicitly state that this EDT is part of the SDT process, Park et al. is added.
In an analogous art, Park et al. teaches a method for communication between base station units related to SDT procedure configuration parameters. See for example, section [0219], where it’s stated that a small data transmission (SDT) in a wireless network (e.g., LTE, 5G, new radio, NR, etc.) may be interpreted as an early data transmission (EDT).
Therefore, as both Liu et al. and Park et al. teach communication methods comprising of paging messages with indications of data transmission, and as Parker et al. teaches that SDT can be interpreted as EDT, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at or before the time of invention to modify Liu et al. to include the more broad SDT term in addition to the more specific EDT term.
Regarding the feature of independent claims 27 and 36 of “and determining, based on the first information, whether to trigger the MT-SDT, wherein based on a determination to trigger the MT-SDT, the method comprises sending, to a terminal device, a second paging message comprising a first indication related to the MT-SDT”, Liu et al. teaches in section [0053] that the exchange between BS2 and BS1 mentioned above occurs based on the determination by BS2 that the target UE is located in a cell of BS1. It continues to teach a first network device (BS1) transmitting to a user equipment a paging message “based at least in part on receiving the RAN paging communication that identifies the MT-EDT indication and the resumeID associated with the UE” (from second network device BS2). It further states that “in some aspects, the UE paging communication may include the MT-EDT indication and the resumeID associated with the UE” (section [0055] and Fig. 3). It could be assumed that, since BS1 received the information from BS2 and proceeded to send a message to the UE, that it “made a determination” to do so. However, for the sake of completeness, since it does not specifically mention “making a determination” per se to trigger the MT-SDT at BS1, Yue et al. is added.
In an analogous art, Yue et al. teaches a method for support of uplink SDT during MT-SDT. See sections [0098] through [0100], where Yue et al. teaches a terminal device receiving a paging for MT-SDT and determining whether or not to stop/start (trigger) the transmission.
Therefore, as both Liu et al. and Yue et al. teach a communication method comprising of paging messages with indications of data transmission, and as Yue et al. teaches making a determination on how to deal with future transmission based off receiving one of these paging messages, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at or before the time of invention to modify Liu et al. with this feature. This would, in effect, be simply moving the determination done by BS2 to BS1.
Regarding claim 28, which recites “wherein the first information comprises second indication related to the MT-SDT and a size of downlink data”, see sections [0053] and [0054] of Liu et al., which teaches BS2 transmits to BS1, a radio access network (RAN) paging communication … including a MT-EDT indication. In addition, see section [0231] of Park et al., which teaches downlink data size may be included in the paging message for a UE. Therefore, the limitations of this claim would be obvious from the combination of Liu et al. and Park et al.
Regarding claim 29, which recites “wherein the terminal device is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state”, see Fig. 3 and section [0056] of Liu et al., which teaches the UE may receive the UE paging communication (e.g., while in the inactive mode), and may descramble and/or decode the UE paging communication to determine whether the UE paging communication is directed to the UE.
Regarding the additional limitations of claim 36, which recite “A first network device comprising: one or more memories storing instructions; and one or more processors configured to process the instructions to control the first network device to:” execute the method of claim 1, see Fig. 2 and section [0039] of Liu et al., which teaches a BS (network device) has memories and processors.
Regarding claim 37, which recites “wherein the first information comprises second indication related to the MT-SDT and a size of downlink data”, see sections [0053] and [0054] of Liu et al., which teaches BS2 transmits to BS1, a radio access network (RAN) paging communication … including a MT-EDT indication. In addition, see section [0231] of Park et al., which teaches downlink data size may be included in the paging message for a UE. Therefore, the limitations of this claim would be obvious from the combination of Liu et al. and Park et al.
Regarding claim 38, which recites “wherein the terminal device is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state”, see Fig. 3 and section [0056] of Liu et al., which teaches the UE may receive the UE paging communication (e.g., while in the inactive mode), and may descramble and/or decode the UE paging communication to determine whether the UE paging communication is directed to the UE.
Claims 30-35 and 39-44 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YUE et al. (US 20240430940 A1, hereinafter "YUE") in view of KIM et al. (US 20220312502 A1, hereinafter “KIM”).
With respect to claims 30 and 39. YUE discloses a method performed by a terminal device, the method comprising:
receiving, from a first network device, a second paging message comprising first indication related to a mobile-terminated small data transmission (MT-SDT) (Fig 1, Abstract “…A method performed by a terminal device in a non Radio Resource Control (RRC)_CONNECTED state with a network device comprises receiving a paging for Mobile Terminating (MT) Small Data Transmission (SDT) from the network device…”);
initiating a procedure for the MT-SDT([0063] “…The condition can be: a MO SDT for UL SDT data is initiated after the UE receives the paging for DL MT SDT.”).
YUE does not expressly disclose the claimed feature of “sending to the first network device, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) resume request message comprising a resume cause set as the MT-SDT.”
In an analogous art KIM teaches sending RRC resume request to a base station. See section [0295] which teaches “The resume cause in the resume request message for SDT may indicate one-time transmission or segmented transmission of the SDT.”
Therefore, as YUE and KIM teach resuming active RRC connections and as KIM explicitly teaches sending an RRC resume request message with a cause value set to SDT, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of KIM into the invention of YUE to re-establish a RRC connection to transmit the small data transmission (SDT) to the base station.
Regarding claims 31 and 40, which recite “wherein the second paging message is sent by the first network device based on a first paging message being received from a second network device, the first paging message comprising first information related to the MT-SDT.
LIU ([0053] “…As further shown in FIG. 3, and by reference number 304, BS2 may transmit, to BS1, a radio access network (RAN) paging communication based at least in part on receiving the MT downlink data. In some aspects, BS2 may transmit the RAN paging communication to BS1 based at least in part on determining that the UE is located in a cell of BS1, which may occur, for example, due to mobility of the UE after transitioning to the inactive mode.”)
With respect to claims 32 and 41. YUE discloses the method according to claim 30, wherein the first information comprises second indication related to the MT-SDT and a size of downlink data.( [0010] “An MT SDT procedure is initiated by the network device (e.g. gNB) for a downlink (DL) data transmission. Upon arrival of downlink (DL) data, if the size of the DL data meets certain criteria, the gNB will send a paging message including e.g. mt-SDT to the UE. The UE responds by initiating a RACH (RACH for MT SDT) procedure.”)
With respect to claims 33 and 42. YUE discloses the method according to claim 30, wherein the terminal device is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state. (Abstract “…A method performed by a terminal device in a non-Radio Resource Control (RRC)_CONNECTED state with a network…” also see [0049]).
With respect to claims 34 and 43. YUE discloses the method according to claim 30, wherein the initiating a procedure for the MT-SDT comprises: determining a set of random-access resources not configured for the MT-SDT; and initiating the procedure with the set of random access resources.“[0012] The performing of the transmission of the non-SDT packet may comprise notifying the base station of the occurrence of the non-SDT packet by using an uplink resource obtained through the initiated or triggered SDT operation, wherein the uplink resource obtained through the initiated or triggered SDT operation is an uplink resource obtained by a random access (RA) procedure with the base station or a configured grant (CG) resource.”
With respect to claims 35 and 44. The method according to claim 30. Although YUE teaches initiating SDT when there is a PDCP, as disclosed in [0085] “In step 440, if there are PDCP and/or RLC SDU and/or PDUs in the buffer corresponding to the configured SDT RBs when initiating an UL MO SDT, a new BSR is triggered”, however, YUE does not explicitly discloses resuming the radio bearer for the SDT, but Dai discloses wherein the initiating a procedure for the MT-SDT comprises: re-establishing PDCP entity for a radio bearer that is configured for the SDT; and resuming the radio bearer that is configured for the SDT (DAI [0071] “It is agreed by RAN2 that only SDT RB(s) are resumed for SDT initialization (i.e., before sending a RRC resume request message), i.e., upon initiating a RRC resume procedure for the SDT initiation (i.e. for the first SDT), the UE may reestablish at least the SDT packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entities and resume the SDT DRBs that are configured for small data transmission and SDT signaling radio bearer (SRB).”)
Therefore, as both YUE and DAI teach establishing bearers with PDCP entity for SDT, and as DAI teaches establishing PDCP and resuming the radio bearer for the SDT, It would have been obvious before the filing date of the claimed invention to one ordinary skill in the art to modify the teaching of YUE by incorporating the above feature in the teaching of DAI, with the motivation of supporting small data transmission, as recognized by DAI Abstract and [0070-0071].
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN SHAUN KELLEY whose telephone number is (571)272-5652. The examiner can normally be reached Mondays to Fridays.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeanette Parker can be reached at (571)270-3647. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/STEVEN S KELLEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646
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