DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to the pending claims, 1-2, 5-9, 14-15, 17-20, 25, 30-34, 38, 25 June 2026. Accordingly, the detailed action of claims 1-2, 5-9, 14-15, 17-20, 25, 30-34 and 38 is as follows:
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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Should applicant desire to obtain the benefit of foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) prior to declaration of an interference, a certified English translation of the foreign application must be submitted in reply to this action. 37 CFR 41.154(b) and 41.202(e).
Failure to provide a certified translation may result in no benefit being accorded for the non-English application.
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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-2, 5, 14-15, 25, 38 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al (US 20240032134 A1, hereafter referred to as Kim) in view of Turtinen et al (US 20230397198 A1, hereafter referred to as Turtinen).
Regarding claim 1, Kim teaches a method for reporting information, comprising:
acquiring or logging, by a terminal device, relevant information during data transmission in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state (Kim [0383-0384, 0416] teaches a device in the RRC inactive state performing a small data transmission process and recording one or more events while communicating during the small data transmission); and
reporting the relevant information to a network side device (Kim [0383-0384, 0416] teaches reporting the communication the report including the one or more events).
However, Kim does not explicitly teach wherein the relevant information comprises at least one of: fallback information generated when data is transmitted, wherein the fallback information indicates a fallback from a use of a Configured Grant (CG) to a use of a 2-step Random Access Channel (RACH) or a fallback from the use of the 2-step RACH to a use of a 4-step RACH, when the data is transmitted; power ramping step information when a preamble is sent to the network side device; a logical channel scheduling request delay timer; or a T319a timer.
Turtinen, in an analogous art, teaches wherein the relevant information comprises at least on of: fallback information generated when data is transmitted (Turtinen [0047] teaches, after transmitting uplink data [0037], the UE sending a message including an indication of the fallback to the BS or sending a first part of a SDT TB with an indication of fallback to the BS [0059-0060]), wherein the fallback information indicates a fallback from a use of a Configured Grant (CG) to a use of a 2-step Random Access Channel (RACH) (Turtinen [0038] teaches a fallback from a configured UL grant to a normal RA procedure whereby the UE transitions to the two-step RA procedure) or a fallback from the use of the 2-step RACH to a use of a 4-step RACH (Turtinen [0038] teaches fallback from two-step RA procedure to a four-step RA procedure), when the data is transmitted (Turtinen [0047] teaches the UE sending a message including an indication of the fallback to the BS or sending a first part of a SDT TB with an indication of fallback to the BS [0059-0060]); power ramping step information when a preamble is sent to the network side device; a logical channel scheduling request delay timer; or a T319a timer.
It would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Kim in view of Turtinen in order to configure the relevant information, as taught by Kim, to include at least one of fallback information generated when data is transmitted, wherein the fallback information indicates a fallback from a use of a Configured Grant (CG) to a use of a 2-step Random Access Channel (RACH) or a fallback from the use of the 2-step RACH to a use of a 4-step RACH, when the data is transmitted; power ramping step information when a preamble is sent to the network side device; a logical channel scheduling request delay timer; or a T319a timer, as taught by Turtinen.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated in order to minimize time and resources consumed by avoiding establishing a connection with the BS from the IDLE state compared to the INACTIVE state and generating and regenerating the TB (Turtinen [0033]).
Regarding claim 2, Kim-Turtinen teaches the limitations of claim 1, as rejected above.
Additionally, Kim-Turtinen teaches the method wherein reporting the relevant information to the network side device comprises one of:
reporting the relevant information to the network side device in an RRC connected state (Kim [0453]); reporting the relevant information to the network side device during a transition to the RRC connected state (Turtinen [0060] teaches reporting the fallback to the BS as part of the RA procedure, whereafter the when the RA is successfully implemented the BS moves the UE to the connected state [0063]); reporting the relevant information to the network side device in the RRC inactive state (Kim [0454, 0456]); or reporting the relevant information to the network side device during a random access procedure (Turtinen [0060] teaches reporting the fallback to the BS as part of the RA procedure [0060, 0046]).
Regarding claim 5, Kim-Turtinen teaches the limitations of claim 1, as rejected above.
Additionally, Kim-Turtinen teaches the method further comprising:
after reporting the relevant information to the network side device (Kim [0374, 0378] teaches a base station receiving a report and analyzing the contents of the report), receiving target configuration information from the network side device (Kim [0374, 0378] teaches a base station receiving a report and based on the report optimizing resources for the SDT procedure and indicating the optimized resources to a device), wherein the target configuration information is obtained by the network side device after adjusting configuration information during data transmission in the RRC inactive state based on the relevant information (Kim [0372, 0374, 0376, 0378, 0370] teaches, based on the reporting, the base station optimizing resources or a SDT procedure by updating or modifying existing configurations or environments for the SDT or enhancing the SDT procedure or processes [0370]).
Regarding claim 14, Kim teaches a method for reporting information, comprising:
receiving, by a network side device, relevant information reported by a terminal device, wherein the relevant information is acquired or logged by the terminal device during data transmission in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state (Kim [0370, 0372, 0374, 0376, 0378]) teaches a base station receiving a report including event associated with SDT logged by a device in the RRC inactive state).
However, Kim does not explicitly teach wherein the relevant information comprises at least one of: fallback information generated when data is transmitted, wherein the fallback information indicates a fallback from a use of a Configured Grant (CG) to a use of a 2-step Random Access Channel (RACH) or a fallback from the use of the 2-step RACH to a use of a 4-step RACH, when the data is transmitted; power ramping step information when a preamble is sent to the network side device; a logical channel scheduling request delay timer; or a T319a timer.
Turtinen, in an analogous art, teaches wherein the relevant information comprises at least on of: fallback information generated when data is transmitted (Turtinen [0047] teaches, after transmitting uplink data [0037], the UE sending a message including an indication of the fallback to the BS or sending a first part of a SDT TB with an indication of fallback to the BS [0059-0060]), wherein the fallback information indicates a fallback from a use of a Configured Grant (CG) to a use of a 2-step Random Access Channel (RACH) (Turtinen [0038] teaches a fallback from a configured UL grant to a normal RA procedure whereby the UE transitions to the two-step RA procedure) or a fallback from the use of the 2-step RACH to a use of a 4-step RACH (Turtinen [0038] teaches fallback from two-step RA procedure to a four-step RA procedure), when the data is transmitted (Turtinen [0047] teaches the UE sending a message including an indication of the fallback to the BS or sending a first part of a SDT TB with an indication of fallback to the BS [0059-0060]); power ramping step information when a preamble is sent to the network side device; a logical channel scheduling request delay timer; or a T319a timer.
It would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Kim in view of Turtinen in order to configure the relevant information, as taught by Kim, to include at least one of fallback information generated when data is transmitted, wherein the fallback information indicates a fallback from a use of a Configured Grant (CG) to a use of a 2-step Random Access Channel (RACH) or a fallback from the use of the 2-step RACH to a use of a 4-step RACH, when the data is transmitted; power ramping step information when a preamble is sent to the network side device; a logical channel scheduling request delay timer; or a T319a timer, as taught by Turtinen.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated in order to minimize time and resources consumed by avoiding establishing a connection with the BS from the IDLE state compared to the INACTIVE state and generating and regenerating the TB (Turtinen [0033]).
Regarding claim 15, Kim teaches the limitations of claim 14, as rejected above.
Additionally, Kim teaches the method further comprising:
after the network side device receives the relevant information reported by the terminal device, performing, by the network side device, a rationality analysis on configuration information for data transmission in the RRC inactive state based on the relevant information (Kim [0370, 0372, 0374] teaches analyzing radio resource information and events associated with SDT in an RRC inactive state corresponding to existing configurations and environments); adjusting the configuration information when the configuration information is determined to be unreasonable, to obtain target configuration information (Kim [0370, 0372, 0374, 0376 and 0378] teaches updating, modifying or enhancing existing configurations, environments, processes and procedures for the SDT); and sending the target configuration information to the terminal device (Kim [0374, 0378] teaches configuring the device with the optimized configurations and resources).
Regarding claim 25, it does not teach or further limit over the limitations presented above with respect to claim 1.
Therefore, claim 25 is rejected for the same reasons set forth above regarding claim 1.
Regarding claim 38, it does not teach or further limit over the limitations presented above with respect to claim 14.
Therefore, claim 38 is rejected for the same reasons set forth above regarding claim 14.
Claims 6-9, 17-20, 30-33, 34 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al (US 20240032134 A1, hereafter referred to as Kim) in view of Turtinen et al (US 20230397198 A1, hereafter referred to as Turtinen) as applied above regarding claim 1, further in view of Fujishiro (US 20230180338 A1, hereafter referred to as Fujishiro).
Regarding claim 6, Kim-Turtinen teaches the limitations of claim 1, as rejected above.
Additionally, Kim-Turtinen teaches the method wherein the relevant information comprises at least one of:
data volume information (Turtinen [0048]); Timing Advance (TA) information in case that data is transmitted using a CG resource (Kim [0418] teaches a SSB resource index corresponding to the configured grant); Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP) information (Kim [0440-0441] teaches a report for SDT comprises measurement information including cell level RSRP); transmission type information (Kim [0418] teaches comprising the resource type in the report); carrier information (Kim [0421, 0447]); Bandwidth Part (BWP) information (Kim [0447, 0421]); number of transmission failures.
However, Kim does not explicitly teach the relevant information comprises: transmission resource information.
Fujishiro, in an analogous art, teaches the relevant information comprises: data volume information (Fujishiro [0200] teaches the information related to the failure may be data size information of failed data), transmission resource information (Fujishiro [0196] teaches the information related to the failure includes information of selected resource), bandwidth part information (Fujishiro [0196]).
It would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Kim in view of Fujishiro in order to configure the relevant information, as taught by Kim, to include data volume information and transmission resource information, as taught by Fujishiro.
KSR rationale B, simple substitution of one known element (relevant information comprising a plurality of information elements, as taught by Kim) for another known element (relevant information comprising data volume information and transmission resource information, as taught by Fujishiro) in order to yield predictable results (implementation of self-organizing or reconfiguration based on the received relevant information) supports the conclusion of obviousness.
Regarding claim 7, Kim-Turtinen-Fujishiro teaches the limitations of claim 6, as rejected above.
Additionally, Kim-Turtinen-Fujishiro teaches the method wherein the data volume information comprises at least one of:
a pending data volume or a data volume buffered (Turtinen [0048]. Likewise, Fujishiro [0196] teaches the information related to failure includes a data size information of failed data of SDT);
a data volume threshold configured by a network; or whether the pending data volume or the data volume buffered exceeds the data volume threshold configured by the network.
Regarding claim 8, Kim-Turtinen-Fujishiro teaches the limitations of claim 6, as rejected above.
Additionally, Kim-Turtinen-Fujishiro teaches the method wherein the TA information comprises at least one of: a TA value, a TA valid time, whether the TA valid time is exceeded, or Synchronization Signal and PBCH block (SSB) information corresponding to the CG resource (Kim [0418] teaches comprising the type of resource and resource information in the failure report, wherein the resource type include a configured grant and the resource information includes the SSB resource index for a configured grant).
Regarding claim 9, Kim-Turtinen-Fujishiro teaches the limitations of claim 6, as rejected above.
Additionally, Kim-Turtinen-Fujishiro teaches the method wherein the RSRP information comprises at least one of: an RSRP value when Small Data Transmission (SDT) is initiated or fails (Kim [0441] teaches the RSRP value up to a moment of detecting the failure event); an RSRP threshold configured by a network when a (SDT) is selected; an RSRP threshold configured by the network when a non-SDT is selected; an RSRP threshold configured by the network and corresponding to a Synchronization Signal and PBCH block (SSB) sent when the SDT is selected; whether the RSRP value when the SDT is initiated or fails is higher than the RSRP threshold configured by the network when the SDT is selected (Kim [0387]); whether the RSRP value when the SDT is initiated or fails is higher than the RSRP threshold configured by the network when the non-SDT is selected; whether the RSRP value when the SDT is initiated or fails is higher than the RSRP threshold configured by the network and corresponding to the SSB sent when the SDT is selected (Kim [0387]); or whether the RSRP value when the SDT is initiated or fails is higher than an RSRP threshold corresponding to a valid CG resource (Kim [0401]).
Regarding claims 17-20, they do not teach or further limit over the limitations presented above with respect to claims 6-9.
Therefore, claims 17-20 are rejected for the same reasons set forth above regarding claims 6-9.
Regarding claims 30-33, they do not teach or further limit over the limitations presented above with respect to claims 6-9.
Therefore, claims 30-33 are rejected for the same reasons set forth above regarding claims 6-9.
Regarding claim 34, Kim-Turtinen-Fujishiro teaches the limitations of claim 30, as rejected above.
Additionally, Kim-Turtinen-Fujishiro teaches the method wherein at least one of the following applies:
the transmission type information indicates that a CG or a random access procedure is used when the data is transmitted (Kim [0418]. Likewise, Turtinen [0047 and 0060] teaches an indication of fallback from SDT or configured UL [0038] to normal RA [0038, 0047 and 0060]); or the transmission type information further indicates that a 2-step random access or a 4-step random access is selected when the data is transmitted using a Random Access Channel (RACH) (Turtinen [0047 and 0060] teaches an indication of fallback from SDT or configured UL [0038] to normal RA [0038, 0047 and 0060]. Likewise, Fujishiro [0195]. Likewise, Kim [0468, 0479]);the fallback information indicates a fallback from a use of a CG to a use of a 2-step RACH or a fallback from the use of the 2-step RACH to a use of a 4-step RACH, when the data is transmitted; the transmission resource information indicates that the CG resource or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) resource is used when the data is transmitted; or the carrier information indicates that a Supplementary Uplink (SUL) carrier or an Uplink (UL) carrier is used when the data is transmitted.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-2, 5-9, 14-15, 17-20, 25, 30-34, 38 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.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHEAN TOKUTA whose telephone number is (571)272-5145. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 630-430.
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, Brian Gillis can be reached at 5712727952. 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.
SHEAN TOKUTA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2446
/SHEAN TOKUTA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2446
Prosecution Insights