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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 –
(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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-11, 13-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by WU et al. (US 2023/0388919 A1), hereinafter WU.
Regarding claim 1, WU discloses a network device (the second device 120, see figure 1 and ¶ 0049) for wireless communication, comprising:
at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the network device to:
transmit downlink (DL) data during DL small data transmission (SDT) to a user equipment (UE) that supports a radio resource control (RRC) non-CONNECTED state (performing a session of SDT between first device 110 and second device 120, see ¶ 0049; The first device 110, which is in the inactive state, performs 602 a session of SDT with the second device 120, see ¶ 0106 and figure 6);
determine that a connection with the UE is lost before the DL SDT successfully completes (determining the cell reselection occurs before SDT transmission is completed, see ¶ 0104); and
transmit an indication to one or more of the UE, one or more other network devices, or a core network (CN) device, for completing the DL SDT (the second device 120 transmits 310, to the first device 110, information for switching the first device 110 from the first cell (e.g., cell 103) to a second cell of a third device, see ¶ 0075).
Regarding claim 2, WU inherently discloses the at least one processor is configured to cause the network device to determine that a connection with the UE is lost via at least one of: a buffer corresponding to the SDT DL data is not empty; a RRC message to complete the DL SDT has not been transmitted (inherent feature: SDT transmission may be considered to be complete after explicit signaling from a network device to a terminal device, see ¶ 0104, it should be note that if no explicit signaling from the network is received, the SDT transmission is incomplete); after predetermined times of failure of one or more of DL or uplink (UL) transmissions during the DL SDT within a serving cell; after predetermined times of failure of one or more of DL or UL transmissions during the DL SDT within a serving cell if a reference signal received power (RSRP) of the UE is less than a threshold; or expiration of a timer that starts or restarts upon the DL data transmission.
Regarding claim 3, WU discloses the indication to the UE comprises at least one of: an indication of a DL SDT or of a legacy DL data transmission on Uu interface for continuing previously transmitted DL SDT in which the DL data transmission has not successfully completed (the communication module 1040 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 1040 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements, see ¶ 0176); or
one or more of a paging message or a legacy paging message for continuing previously transmitted DL SDT in which the DL data transmission has not successfully completed.
Regarding claim 5, WU discloses the indication to the one or more other network devices comprises at least one of: a radio access network (RAN) paging message for continuing previously transmitted DL SDT in which the DL data transmission has not successfully completed; and an indication to the one or more other network devices to initiate a mobile terminated (MT) SDT or a legacy data transmission to continue previously transmitted DL SDT in which the DL data transmission has not successfully completed (the second device 120 transmits 310, to the first device 110, information for switching the first device 110 from the first cell (e.g., cell 103) to a second cell of a third device, see ¶ 0075).
Regarding claim 6, WU discloses the indication to the CN device comprises at least one of: an indication that the DL data transmission in the DL SDT has not successfully completed (the second device 120 transmits 310, to the first device 110, information for switching the first device 110 from the first cell (e.g., cell 103) to a second cell of a third device, see ¶ 0075); and an initiation of an access network (AN) release procedure to trigger a CN paging .
Regarding claim 7, WU discloses the UE is identified by one or more of a stored radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) or an identity allocated by upper layers (the first device 110 (e.g., a UE) was allocated a cell-radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) already in the previous cell during the SDT procedure (which the first device 110 then uses for the re-establishment). The first device 110 may include the C-RNTI in the RRC re-establishment request message to the second cell, see ¶ 0086).
Regarding claim 8, WU discloses the network device does not have a context of the UE, and the at least one processor is configured to cause the network device to transmit the indication to another network device that has the context of the UE (the second device 120 (e.g., a gNB) will not continue maintaining the context information of the first device 110 in the idle state. As such, if the first device 110 moves from an old cell to a new cell, the third device 130 for the new cell can neither fetch UE context information nor the already transmitted data from the second device 120 for the old cell, see ¶ 0059).
Regarding claim 9, WU discloses a method performed by a network device (second device 120, see figure 1), comprising:
transmitting downlink (DL) data during DL small data transmission (SDT) to a user equipment (UE) that supports a radio resource control (RRC) non-CONNECTED state (performing a session of SDT between first device 110 and second device 120, see ¶ 0049; The first device 110, which is in the inactive state, performs 602 a session of SDT with the second device 120, see ¶ 0106 and figure 6);
determining that a connection with the UE is lost before the DL SDT successfully completes (determining the cell reselection occurs before SDT transmission is completed, see ¶ 0104); and
transmitting an indication to one or more of the UE, one or more other network devices, or a core network (CN) device, for completing the DL SDT (the second device 120 transmits 310, to the first device 110, information for switching the first device 110 from the first cell (e.g., cell 103) to a second cell of a third device, see ¶ 0075).
Regarding claim 10, WU inherently discloses the at least one processor is configured to cause the network device to determine that a connection with the UE is lost via at least one of: a buffer corresponding to the SDT DL data is not empty; a RRC message to complete the DL SDT has not been transmitted (inherent feature: SDT transmission may be considered to be complete after explicit signaling from a network device to a terminal device, see ¶ 0104, it should be note that if no explicit signaling from the network is received, the SDT transmission is incomplete); after predetermined times of failure of one or more of DL or uplink (UL) transmissions during the DL SDT within a serving cell; after predetermined times of failure of one or more of DL or UL transmissions during the DL SDT within a serving cell if a reference signal received power (RSRP) of the UE is less than a threshold; or expiration of a timer that starts or restarts upon the DL data transmission.
Regarding claim 11, WU discloses the indication to the UE comprises at least one of: an indication of a DL SDT or of a legacy DL data transmission on Uu interface for continuing previously transmitted DL SDT in which the DL data transmission has not successfully completed (the communication module 1040 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 1040 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements, see ¶ 0176); or
a paging message or a legacy paging message for continuing previously transmitted DL SDT in which the DL data transmission has not successfully completed.
Regarding claim 13, WU discloses a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication (first device 110, see figure 2), comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to:
receive downlink (DL) data during DL small data transmission (SDT) from a network device (performing a session of SDT, see ¶ 0106 and figure 6);
reselect a neighboring cell when the DL SDT to the UE has not successfully completed (cell reselection during SDT procedure means cell reselection occurs before SDT transmission is completed, see ¶ 0104, 0107); and
trigger a random access channel (RACH) in the reselected neighboring cell (the first device may access 610 (e.g., may perform a RACH procedure with) the third device 130 if allowed, see ¶ 0107).
Regarding claim 14, WU discloses the DL SDT comprises a mobile terminated (MT) SDT initiated by the network device (the first device 110 may receive downlink small data from the second device 120, see ¶ 0107).
Regarding claim 15, WU discloses the at least one controller is configured to cause the processor to store an identity in the at least one memory, and wherein, the stored identity is indicated in the RACH (the first information comprises at least one of: an identity of a second cell to be re-selected by the first device, an indication that the potential cell reselection criterion is satisfied, and an indication of whether the inactive state or a connected state is preferred by the first device, see ¶ 0121).
Regarding claim 16, WU discloses at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to receive an indication for completing the DL SDT (in one example, SDT transmission may be considered to be complete after explicit signaling from a network device to a terminal device, see ¶ 0104).
Regarding claim 17, WU discloses the indication comprises at least one of: an indication of a DL SDT or of a legacy DL data transmission on Uu interface for continuing previously transmitted DL SDT in which the DL data transmission has not successfully completed (the communication module 1040 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 1040 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements, see ¶ 0176); or
one or more of a paging message or a legacy paging message for continuing previously transmitted DL SDT in which the DL data transmission has not successfully completed.
Regarding claim 18, WU discloses a processor (a processor in first device 110, see figure 2) for wireless communication, comprising: at least one controller coupled with at least one memory and configured to cause the processor to:
receiving downlink (DL) data during DL small data transmission (SDT) from a network device (performing a session of SDT, see ¶ 0106 and figure 6);
reselecting a neighboring cell when the DL SDT to the UE has not successfully completed (cell reselection during SDT procedure means cell reselection occurs before SDT transmission is completed, see ¶ 0104, 0107); and
triggering a random access channel (RACH) in the reselected neighboring cell (the first device may access 610 (e.g., may perform a RACH procedure with) the third device 130 if allowed, see ¶ 0107).
Regarding claim 19, WU discloses the DL SDT comprises a mobile terminated (MT) SDT initiated by the network device (the first device 110 may receive downlink small data from the second device 120, see ¶ 0107).
Regarding claim 20, WU discloses the at least one controller is configured to cause the processor to store an identity in the at least one memory, and wherein, the stored identity is indicated in the RACH (the first information comprises at least one of: an identity of a second cell to be re-selected by the first device, an indication that the potential cell reselection criterion is satisfied, and an indication of whether the inactive state or a connected state is preferred by the first device, see ¶ 0121).
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) 4 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WU in view of LAURIDSEN et al. (US 2022/0046576 A1), hereinafter LAURIDSEN.
Regarding claims 4 and 12, WU is silent on configured to cause the network device to determine that the UE is in a trigger condition for autonomously triggering the paging message or legacy paging message.
In the same field of endeavor, LAURIDSEN discloses when the sum of RNA changes is equal to or greater than N, and the number of observed traffic events within the window y does not exceed x, the UE moves autonomously to RRC_IDLE, as shown at S4. The RRC_IDLE configuration including paging periodicity is broadcast by the network, and the UE follows the definitions provided in the broadcast (e.g. the paging periodicity) (see ¶ 0107).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement LAURIDSEN’s teaching in the network taught by WU to notify the UE when downlink data arrives, the anchor base station sends a RAN paging message within the user's defined RAN Notification Area (RNA) using an Inactive-RNTI (I-RNTI) identifier, prompting an quick connection resume.
Conclusion
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Bob A. Phunkulh whose telephone number is (571) 272-3083. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. (first week of the bi-week) and Monday-Friday (for second week of the bi-week).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor CHARLES C. JIANG can be reach on (571) 270-7191.
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/BOB A PHUNKULH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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