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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, 7-9, 13, 16-18, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (WO 2021251804).
*Regarding to optional language “OR”; “at least one of” there is only one limitation selected.
- With respect to claims 1, 8, 16, 20, Kim teaches a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication (see Fig. 1T, the baseband processor and RF processor), comprising: a transceiver; and at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to: receive at least one signaling indicating multicast radio bearer (MRB) configuration information for multicast reception in radio resource control (RRC) non-connected state, wherein the at least one signaling is at least one of: a RRC dedicated signaling received in a RRC connected state or a RRC dedicated signaling received during a state transition from the RRC connected state to the RRC non-connected state (see Fig. 1M, the RRC release 1m-45 and par 414 discloses “ the base station may configure a sixth RRC message (for example, RRCRelease 1m-45) and transmit the sixth RRC message to the UE to transition the UE to the RRC idle mode or the RRC inactive mode. The sixth RRC message 1m-45 may include the following information or some of the following information so that the UE may continually receive the MBS even in the RRC idle mode or the RRC inactive mode (1m-50)”; par. 416, 418, 423-424); and in response to the UE transiting from the RRC connected state to the RRC non-connected state, receive, via the transceiver, multicast data of MRB in the RRC non-connected state based on the received MRB configuration information for multicast reception in RRC non-connected state (see Fig. 1M, the MBS service 1m-50 and par. 414). Kim implicitly fails to discloses MRB however Kim teaches MBS which consider the same in 3GPP NR since MBS is overcome MRB, but Kim discloses the multicast bearer and unicast bearer (par. 5, 9-10). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to understand the MBS consider the similar as MRB.
- With respect to claims 2, 13, 17, Kim teaches wherein the MRB configuration information for multicast reception in RRC non-connected state is indicated by: the RRC dedicated signaling received in the RRC connected state indicating the MRB configuration information of the UE for multicast reception (e.g. par. 414 discloses “transmit the sixth RRC message to the UE to transition the UE to the RRC idle mode or the RRC inactive mode. The sixth RRC message 1m-45 may include the following information or some of the following information so that the UE may continually receive the MBS even in the RRC idle mode or the RRC inactive mode (1m-50)”); or the RRC dedicated signaling received during the state transition, indicating multicast reception in the RRC non-connected state with continuing using the MRB configuration information of the UE for multicast reception.
- With respect to claims 3, 18, Kim teaches wherein the MRB configuration information for multicast reception in RRC non-connected state comprises a set of MRB configurations associated with a set of cells (e.g. Fig. 1A shows plurality cells).
- With respect to claim 5, Kin teaches wherein the multicast in the RRC non-connected state comprises at least one of: suspend or release a point to point (PTP) leg if any; disable or suspend one or more dedicated MRB configurations for the RRC connected state (see par. 212 discloses “ MBS control information (an MAC CE, for example, an MAC CE for a network to indicate a suspension of the BMS”); continue to receive multicast of a point to multipoint (PTM) leg or receive multicast of a PTM leg of one or more corresponding MRBs in the RRC non-connected state; suspend protocol data convergence protocol (PDCP) entities of all data radio bearers (DRBs) except corresponding MRBs; perform partial media access control (MAC) reset; or in response to determining that multicast is to be continued to be received or is to be received in the RRC non-connected state, select a cell which provides the multicast during the state transition.
- With respect to claim 7, Kim teaches wherein, the at least one processor is further configured to cause the UE to: receive a timer for indicating valid time of the MRB configuration information for multicast reception in RRC non-connected state; and enter the RRC connected state to update the MRB configuration information for multicast reception in RRC non-connected state in response to the timer expiring in the RRC non-connected state (see par. 200 discloses “n the RRCSetup message or the RRCResume message 1f-25 or the RRCReconfiguration message 1f-45 in the RRC connection configuration, a status transition timer may be configured so that the UE may directly perform status transition”).
* Regarding to claims 9-12, 21-22 are depend on claim 8 has optional “OR” such as “only in MCCH or in both of RRC dedicated signaling and MCCH” which are not selected for exam.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 6, 19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
. Examiner's Note: Examiner has cited particular paragraphs or columns and line numbers in the references applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHUC H TRAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3172. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5 Flex.
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, Sujoy K. Kundu can be reached at 571-272-8586. 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.
/PHUC H TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
Prosecution Insights