CTNF 18/703,338 CTNF 84613 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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 § 102 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – 07-08-aia AIA (a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. 07-15-aia AIA Claim(s) 1, 2, 5-7, 9-13 and 15-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Wei et al. (US 2021/0315049, IDS Reference) . Regarding claims 1 and 15, Wei et al. disclose a method in a user equipment (UE) (Figure 8, UE 820; Figure 18 and paragraph 297, node 1800 being a UE), the UE comprising processing hardware (Figure 18, processor 1808) and configured for maintaining uplink time alignment , the method comprising: initiating, by the UE, a small data transmission (SDT) procedure during which the UE communicates small data with a radio access network (RAN) (Figure 8 and paragraph 160, In action 806, the UE 820 (as an RRC_INACTIVE UE) may generate an attempt for small data transmission (e.g., when the AS layer of the UE 820 has data ready for transmission)… the UE 820 may perform small data transmission via a CG in action 814); starting a first timer in response to the initiating (Paragraph 169, A UE may (re)start a timer from an initial value each time the RS measurement is performed; Figure 8 and paragraph 160, In action 808, the UE 820 may receive RS(s) from the BS 840. In action 810, the UE 820 may perform TA validation check to determine whether there is any valid TA value applicable for small data transmission; Paragraph 161, For TA validation check, the UE 820 may measure the RS(s) received in action 808, and determine the validity the corresponding TA value according to the measurement result; Timer for measuring RS(s) is the timer that is started in response to generating the SDT); receiving, while the first timer is running, a time alignment command (TAC) (Figure 9 and paragraph 163, UE 920 may receive…a TA value and an RS ID from the BS 940 in action 904; Paragraph 166, The specific condition may be that a TA value, a TA command, and/or an indicator that instructs the UE 920 to perform RS re-measurement is newly-received [TA value and RS ID reception is equivalent to TA command]); and in response to receiving the TAC, starting or restarting a second timer (Paragraph 166, TA validation check in response to TA command [TA value and RS ID reception]; Paragraph 186, A TA-related timer (e.g., TA-valid timer (TVT_Timer)) may be applied in TA validation check) that controls a use of a configured grant for transmitting small data (Figure 8 and paragraph 160, after that the UE 820 determines that the TA value is valid in action 810, the UE 820 may perform small data transmission via a CG in action 814; Paragraph 187, As illustrated in FIG. 12, the TA related timer starts at the time point 1220 and expires/stops at the time point 1240; Paragraph 189, A PUSCH resource of CG can be used to transmit small data if the associated TA value is valid. As illustrated in FIG. 12, PUSCH #1 1202, PUSCH #2 1204, PUSCH #3 1206 and PUSCH #4 1208 are PUSCH resources derived from a CG (i.e., PUSCH resources of CG). The UE may perform small data transmission on PUSCH #1 1202, PUSCH #2 1204 and PUSCH #3 1206 since the TA-related timer is running and the associated TA value is considered valid). Regarding claim 2, Wei et al. disclose wherein receiving the TAC includes receiving a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (Paragraph 192, The TA value may be indicated by a TA command included in an RAR message or a DL MAC CE). Regarding claims 5 and 16, Wei et al. disclose prior to performing the SDT procedure: receiving a command to release an RRC connection, the command including the configured grant (Figure 13 and paragraph 224, In action 1302, the UE 1320 may receive an RRC release message from the BS 1340. The RRC release message may include multiple CG configurations (Multi-CG Config) for the UE to perform small data transmission in the RRC_INACTIVE state). Regarding claim 6, Wei et al. disclose wherein the command (Figure 9 and paragraph 163, UE 920 may receive…a TA value and an RS ID from the BS 940 in action 904; Paragraph 166, The specific condition may be that a TA value, a TA command, and/or an indicator that instructs the UE 920 to perform RS re-measurement is newly-received [TA value and RS ID reception is equivalent to TA command]) includes a value of the second timer (Paragraph 157, The TA value may be an absolute timing value that the UE should take into consideration when determining the time-domain position of an UL transmission. The TA value may be an offset in time domain that the UE should take into consideration when adjusting the current TA value for UL transmission. For example, an adjusted TA value may be determined by [the current TA value±K×offset], where K is an integer) Regarding claims 7 and 17, Wei et al. disclose wherein: the TAC is a first TAC (Figures 8 and 9, UE in RRC_INACTIVE state and receiving TA value and RS ID [first TAC]) , and the method further comprising, in a second instance: receiving, by the UE operating in an RRC connected state, a second TAC; and in response to the second TAC, starting a third timer that delimits a period during which the UE and a base station are synchronized in an uplink direction (Paragraph 157, An RRC_CONNECTED UE may be configured, by the BS via a DL RRC message, with a timeAlignmentTimer for each TAG. The timeAlignmentTimer may (re)start when the UE receives a TA value from the BS. The TA value may be an absolute timing value that the UE should take into consideration when determining the time-domain position of an UL transmission. The TA value may be an offset in time domain that the UE should take into consideration when adjusting the current TA value for UL transmission). Regarding claims 9 and 18, Wei et al. disclose wherein the TAC includes an indication of a time offset for adjusting uplink timing at the UE (Paragraph 157, The TA value may be an offset in time domain that the UE should take into consideration when adjusting the current TA value for UL transmission. For example, an adjusted TA value may be determined by [the current TA value±K×offset], where K is an integer). Regarding claim 10, Wei et al. disclose wherein performing the SDT procedure includes operating in an RRC inactive state or RRC idle state (Figure 8 and paragraphs 159-160, In action 804, the UE 820 may transition from the RRC_CONNECTED state to the RRC_INACTIVE state…In action 806, the UE 820 (as an RRC_INACTIVE UE) may generate an attempt for small data transmission). Regarding claim 11, Wei et al. disclose wherein initiating the SDT procedure includes: transmitting, using the configured grant to a network, small data (Figure 8 and paragraph 160, UE 820 may perform small data transmission via a CG in action 814). Regarding claim 12, Wei et al. disclose implementation in a MAC layer (Paragraph 61, the UE may apply the configuration for small data transmission, and reconfigure its AS layer (e.g., the MAC, RLC, PDCP and/or SDAP layer(s)) according to the configuration for small data transmission). Regarding claims 13 and 19, Wei et al. disclose not using the configured grant after the second timer expires (Paragraphs 210-213, Other conditions 1) to 10) to release a CG configuration are described as follows…The corresponding TA-related timer expires; Paragraph 260, The at least one CG resource may be released when the TA-related timer expires) . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – 07-12-aia AIA (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. 07-15-03-aia AIA Claim(s) 1, 2, 5-7, 9-13 and 15-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Wei et al. Refer to detailed rejections of claims 1, 2, 5, 7, 9-13 and 15-19 in sections 4-13 above . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-23-aia AIA The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness. 07-22-aia AIA Claim (s) 3, 4, 14 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wei et al . as applied to claim s 1 and 15 above, and further in view of Chen (US 2024/0373383) . Regarding claim 3, Wei et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Chen: wherein the first timer delimits a period of time during which the UE waits for a response to the initiating, from the network (Chen, Paragraph 75, the UE starts a timer to time a waiting window upon initiating the CG-SDT and monitors, during the waiting window, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a response that responds the CG-SDT). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wei et al. with the cited disclosure from Chen in order to further perform SDT transmission on preconfigured SDT resource in RRC inactive state when a TA is validated (Chen, Abstract). Regarding claim 4, Chen discloses prior to performing the SDT procedure: receiving a command to release an RRC connection, the command including a value for the first timer (Paragraph 128, For supporting SDT in RRC_INACTIVE, the common/UE-specific SDT configuration, SSB-to-PUSCH resource mapping, SDT threshold(s), and waiting window/timer 231 may be configured in RRC signaling (e.g., system information A001, A003 and/or RRCRelease with SuspendConfig A004)). Regarding claims 14 and 20, Wei et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Chen: stopping the second timer in response to initiating a random access procedure for a non- SDT procedure (Chen, Paragraph 103, When all the checking are not met for SDT in RRC_INACITVE or the retransmission of SDT has reached the allowed maximum number of times, the UE may perform a non-SDT procedure (i.e., a normal 4-step RA procedure for transiting to RRC_CONNECTED)). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wei et al. with the cited disclose from Chen in order to perform normal non-SDT procedures when SDT is not being performed (Chen, Paragraph 103) . 07-22-aia AIA Claim (s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wei et al . as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Tsai et al. (US 2023/0122869) . Regarding claim 8, Wei et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Tsai et al.: receiving a command to reconfigure an RRC connection, the command including a value of the third timer (Tsai et al., Paragraph 204, TA timer may be configured…RRCReconfiguration). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wei et al. with the cited disclosure from Tsai et al. in order to further perform uplink time alignment (Tsai et al., Paragraph 204). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OTIS L THOMPSON, JR whose telephone number is (571)270-1953. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 6:30am - 7:00pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chirag G. Shah can be reached at (571)272-3144. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /OTIS L THOMPSON, JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477 March 11, 2026 Application/Control Number: 18/703,338 Page 2 Art Unit: 2477 Application/Control Number: 18/703,338 Page 3 Art Unit: 2477 Application/Control Number: 18/703,338 Page 4 Art Unit: 2477 Application/Control Number: 18/703,338 Page 5 Art Unit: 2477 Application/Control Number: 18/703,338 Page 6 Art Unit: 2477 Application/Control Number: 18/703,338 Page 8 Art Unit: 2477 Application/Control Number: 18/703,338 Page 9 Art Unit: 2477
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