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 .
Claims 1 and 21-34 are pending in this office action.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the amendment filed 08/06/2026 have been considered but are moot in view of new grounds of rejection.
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 1 and 21-34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou et al (US 2023/0050307 A1) in view of Ma et al (US 2024/0237016 A1) in further view of Lee et al (US 2022/0329360 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Zhou teaches a method in a user equipment (UE) for receiving a multicast and/or broadcast service (MBS), the method comprising:
transmitting, by the UE and to a radio access network (RAN), an indication that the UE supports point-to-point (PTP) retransmission (Zhou: [0335], the wireless device transmits to the base station a capability message indicating support of retransmission of MBS Tb via unicast transmission/PTP retransmission);
receiving, by the UE and from the RAN, a first downlink control information (DCI) scrambled with a group radio network temporary identifier (G-RNTI), the first DCI including a first data indicator (NDI) value (Zhou: Fig. 34; [0358]-[0361], the wireless device (WD) receives 1st DCI scrambled with MBS-RNTI/G-RNTI and NDI);
attempting to receive, by the UE and from the RAN via multicast, a first transmission that includes an MBS data packet associated with the MBS in accordance with the first NDI value (Zhou: Fig. 34; [0358]-[0361], the wireless device (WD) receives 1st MBS TB based on the 1st DCI scrambled with MBS-RNTI/G-RNTI);
receiving, by the UE and from the RAN, a second DCI scrambled with a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), the second DCI including a second NDI value Zhou: Fig. 34; [0358]-[0361], the wireless device (WD) receives 2nd DCI scrambled with C-RNTI and with NDI=0).
Zhou does not explicitly disclose determining, by the UE and based on the first NDI value and the second NDI value, that the second DCI is associated with a new transmission of another MBS data packet associated with the MBS.
Ma teaches determining, by the UE and based on the first NDI value and the second NDI value, that the second DCI is associated with a new transmission of another MBS data packet associated with the MBS (Ma: Fig. 3; [0042], UE3 receives a new transmission of TB in the second transmission after the first PTM transmission based on the NDI being toggled or not).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhou by determining, by the UE and based on the first NDI value and the second NDI value, that the second DCI is associated with a new transmission of another MBS data packet associated with the MBS as disclosed by Ma to provide a system for a reliable transmission of MBS service (Ma: Abstract).
Zhou in view of Ma does not explicitly disclose receiving, by the UE and from the RAN via multicast on a multicast MBS traffic channel (MTCH), the MTCH being a logical channel identified by a logical channel identifier (LCID).
Lee teaches receiving, by the UE and from the RAN via multicast on a multicast MBS traffic channel (MTCH), the MTCH being a logical channel identified by a logical channel identifier (LCID) (Lee: [0306], [0318], UE receiving DCI assigning to MBS traffic on MTCH logical channel).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify them system of Zhou in view of Ma by receiving, by the UE and from the RAN via multicast on a multicast MBS traffic channel (MTCH), the MTCH being a logical channel identified by a logical channel identifier (LCID) as disclosed by Lee to provide a system for high data transfer rates (Lee: Abstract).
Regarding claim 21, Zhou in view of Ma teaches wherein the indication that the UE supports PTP retransmission includes an indication that the UE supports PTP retransmission for the MBS (Zhou: [0335]).
Regarding claim 22, Zhou in view of Ma teaches wherein each of the first DCI and the second DCI includes a same process number in accordance with a mechanism for automatic retransmission of undelivered packets, and the determining that the second DCI is associated with the new transmission of the another MBS data packet associated with the MBS is further based on the same process number (Zhou: Fig. 34; [0358]-[0361]).
Regarding claim 23, Zhou in view of Ma teaches transmitting, by the UE and to the RAN, an indication of whether the UE successfully received the first transmission, in accordance with the mechanism for the automatic retransmission of undelivered packets (Zhou: Fig. 34; [0358]-[0361]).
Regarding claim 24, Zhou in view of Ma teaches wherein the receiving of the second DCI scrambled with the C-RNTI is based on the transmitting of the indication that the UE supports the PTP retransmission (Zhou: Fig. 34; [0335], [0358]-[0361]).
Regarding claim 25, Zhou in view of Ma teaches wherein the determining that the second DCI is associated with the new transmission of the another data packet associated with the MBS includes determining that the first NDI value and the second NDI value are not equivalent (Ma: Fig. 3; [0042], UE3 receives a new transmission of TB in the second transmission after the first PTM transmission based on the NDI being toggled or not).
Regarding claim 26, Zhou in view of Ma teaches responsive to the determining, attempting to receive, by the UE and from the RAN via unicast, the new transmission of the another MBS data packet associated with the MBS in accordance with the second NDI value (Zhou: Fig. 34; [0358]-[0361]).
Regarding claim 27, Zhou in view of Ma teaches wherein the MBS data packet is a first MBS data packet, the MBS is a first MBS, the G-RNTI is a first G-RNTI, the C-RNTI is a first C-RNTI, and the method further comprises: receiving, by the UE and from the RAN, a third DCI scrambled with a second G-RNTI, the third DCI including a third NDI value; attempting to receive, by the UE and from the RAN via multicast, a second transmission that includes a second MBS data packet associated with a second MBS in accordance with the third NDI value; receiving, by the UE and from the RAN, a fourth DCI scrambled with a second C-RNTI, the fourth DCI including a fourth NDI value; and determining, by the UE and based on the third NDI value and the fourth NDI value, whether the fourth DCI is associated with a PTP retransmission of the second MBS data packet associated with the second MBS or with a new transmission of a further MBS data packet associated with the second MBS (Ma: Fig. 6; [0119]-[0128], see descriptions relating to UE3 with HPIS=3 and HPID#1).
Regarding claim 28, Zhou in view of Ma teaches wherein: each of the first DCI and the second DCI includes a first process number in accordance with a mechanism for automatic retransmission of undelivered packets; each of the third DCI and the fourth DCI includes a second process number in accordance with the mechanism for the automatic retransmission of undelivered packets; and the determining of whether the fourth DCI is associated with the PTP retransmission of the second MBS data packet or the new transmission of the further MBS data packet is further based on the second process number (Ma: Fig. 6; [0119]-[0128], see descriptions relating to UE3 with HPIS=3 and HPID#1).
Regarding claim 29, Zhou in view of Ma teaches transmitting, by the UE and to the RAN, an indication of whether the UE successfully received the second transmission, in accordance with the mechanism for the automatic retransmission of undelivered packets (Zhou: Fig. 34; [0358]-[0361]).
Regarding claim 30, Zhou in view of Ma teaches wherein the receiving of the fourth DCI is responsive to the transmitting of the indication of whether the UE successfully received the second transmission (Zhou: Fig. 34; [0358]-[0361]).
Regarding claim 31, Zhou in view of Ma teaches wherein determining whether the fourth DCI is associated with the PTP retransmission of the second MBS data packet or with the new transmission of the further MBS data packet includes: determining that the fourth DCI is associated with the PTP retransmission of second MBS data packet when the third NDI is equivalent to the fourth NDI; and determining that the fourth DCI is associated with the new transmission of the further MBS data packet when the third NDI and the fourth NDI are not equivalent (Ma: Fig. 6; [0119]-[0128], see descriptions relating to UE3 with HPIS=3 and HPID#1).
Regarding claim 32, Zhou in view of Ma teaches determining that the fourth DCI is associated with the PTP retransmission of the second MBS data packet; and attempting to receive the PTP retransmission of the second MBS data packet in accordance with the third NDI value (Zhou: Fig. 34; [0358]-[0361]).
Regarding claim 33, Zhou in view of Ma teaches determining that the fourth DCI is associated with the new transmission of the further MBS data packet; and responsive to the determining, attempting to receive, by the UE and from the RAN via unicast, the new transmission of the further MBS data packet in accordance with the fourth NDI value (Ma: Fig. 6; [0119]-[0128], see descriptions relating to UE3 with HPIS=3 and HPID#1).
Regarding claim 34, Zhou in view of Ma teaches a UE comprising processing hardware and configured to implement the method of claim 1 (See rejection of claim 1).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/KODZOVI ACOLATSE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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