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
This Office Action is in response to the applicants' communication filed on February 11, 2026. In virtue of this communication, claims 58-77 are currently presented in the instant application.
Drawings
The drawings submitted on September 18, 2024 have been reviewed and accepted by the examiner.
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) 58-77 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Pub No.: US-20230189245-A1 (herein “Alfarhan”).
Claims 58, 75, and 77
Consider claim 58, Alfarhan teaches a method of operating a User Equipment (UE) configured to transmit signals to and/or to receive signals from a wireless communications network via a wireless radio interface provided by the wireless communications network, the method comprising:
receiving, from the wireless communications network, a paging message, the paging message indicating that the wireless communications network is to transmit, to the UE, a downlink Small Data Transmission (SDT), while the UE is operating in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) INACTIVE state (see Alfarhan Fig. 2, [0114] note receive configuration info for SDT while in Inactive Mode):
determining, in response to receiving the paging message, whether one or more predetermined conditions for reception of the downlink SDT are met (see Alfarhan Fig. 2, [0114] note conditions), wherein the one or more predetermined conditions comprise:
determining that measured downlink Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) is higher than a configured downlink RSRP threshold, wherein the configured downlink RSRP threshold is common for both the downlink SDT and an uplink SDT, wherein the downlink SDT is Mobile Terminated (MT) SDT, and wherein the uplink SDT is Configured Grant (CG) SDT or Random Access (RA) SDT; and
determining whether a CG SDT resource is configured for the UE, wherein the determining whether the CG SDT resource is configured for the UE comprises determining whether an uplink time-alignment timer for CG SDT has not expired (see Alfarhan Fig. 2, [0114] note UL CGs for SDT and WTRI time aligned);
in response to determining that the CG SDT resource is not configured for the UE and that the RA SDT resource is not configured for the UE while the UE is in RRC INACTIVE, performing a Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure and transmitting, to the wireless communications network, an RRC Resume Request message including a cause value indicating that the UE has responded to a downlink SDT paging message (see Alfarhan Fig. 2, [0114], [0115] note sending HARQ feedback and when the condition is not satisfied, WTRU may transition to Connected Mode and/or transmit an RRC connection request using a legacy RA procedure); and
receiving, from the wireless communications network in response to the RRC Resume Request message, the downlink data (see Alfarhan Fig. 2, [0114], [0115] note receiving DL SDT).
Claim(s) 75 and 77 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 58.
Claim 59
Consider claim 59, Alfarhan teaches wherein the one or more predetermined conditions comprise a set of grant-free resources of the wireless radio interface having been configured for the UE in which the UE is able to transmit uplink SDTs to the wireless communications network and the grant-free resources being valid at a time at which the downlink SDT is to be received from the wireless communications network (see Alfarhan [0099], [0122] note WTRU may consider RACH resources or PDSCH resources within a configured period from the reception of the trigger signal as valid for the purpose of small data exchange. Also note, one or more predetermined conditions was fulfilled in the independent claim already and this claim does not clarify that more the predetermined condition must include the condition claimed herein is in addition to the previous condition fulfillment).
Claim 60
Consider claim 60, Alfarhan teaches wherein the grant-free resources being valid comprises a time alignment timer associated with the grant-free resources not having expired, the time alignment timer indicating a time period during which the UE is synchronised with the wireless communications network in an uplink and/or in a downlink (see Alfarhan [0099], [0114] note WTRU may consider RACH resources or PDSCH resources within a configured period from the reception of the trigger signal as valid for the purpose of small data exchange and determining UL time alignment of the WTRU).
Claim 61
Consider claim 61, Alfarhan teaches wherein the RACH procedure is a 4- step RACH procedure comprising transmitting a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) preamble from a set of preambles allocated for SDT (see Alfarhan [0069], [0100] 4-step RA).
Claim 62
Consider claim 62, Alfarhan teaches wherein the RACH procedure is a 2- step RACH procedure comprising transmitting a message A (msgA) including a PRACH preamble and an associated Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) transmission containing the RRC Resume Request message (see Alfarhan [0100], [0115] note 2-step RA, where the WTRU may initiation the transition to connected mode and/or send an RRC connection request).
Claim 63
Consider claim 63, Alfarhan teaches wherein the RACH procedure uses normal RACH resources that are not from a separate partitioning of RACH resources allocated for SDT (see Alfarhan [0115] note send an RRC connection request (initiating a legacy RA procedure)).
Claims 64 and 76
Consider claim 64, Alfarhan teaches further comprising: receiving, from the wireless communications network in a downlink message of the RACH procedure, a configuration directing the UE to remain in the RRC INACTIVE state to receive the downlink data (see Alfarhan [0095] An NW may trigger the WTRU to initiate an RA procedure to receive DL small data in inactive or idle mode).
Claim(s) 76 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 64.
Claim 65
Consider claim 65, Alfarhan teaches further comprising: receiving, from the wireless communications network in a downlink message of the RACH procedure, a configuration directing the UE to transition from the RRC INACTIVE state to a connected state to receive the downlink data (see Alfarhan [0103], [0118] note monitoring a PDCH for initiating an RA to transition into a connected mode based on at least one of a subsequent DL data reception).
Claim 66
Consider claim 66, Alfarhan teaches further comprising: transmitting, to the wireless communications network, a message indicating that the one or more predetermined conditions are not met and therefore that the UE is not able to receive the downlink SDT from the wireless communications network while operating in the RRC INACTIVE state (see Alfarhan Fig. 2, [0093], [0114], [0115] note when the condition is not satisfied, WTRU may initiate a transition to Connected Mode and/or transmit an RRC connection request using a legacy RA procedure).
Claim 67
Consider claim 67, Alfarhan teaches further comprising: receiving, from the wireless communications network in a downlink message of the RACH procedure, a configuration for the UE to receive the downlink data from the wireless communications network (see Alfarhan [0114] note WTRU may receive configuration information).
Claim 68
Consider claim 68, Alfarhan teaches wherein the one or more predetermined conditions further comprise at least one data radio bearer having been configured for the UE to receive the downlink SDT from the wireless communications network while operating in the RRC INACTIVE state (see Alfarhan [0070], [0114], [0116] note WTRU context in RRC_Inactive may include the configuration of radio bearers and the WTRU determines based on DRB for DL data SDT DRB. Also note, one or more predetermined conditions was fulfilled in the independent claim already and this claim does not clarify that more the predetermined condition must include the condition claimed herein is in addition to the previous condition fulfillment).
Claim 69
Consider claim 69, Alfarhan teaches wherein the one or more predetermined conditions comprise a logical channel having been configured for the UE to receive data associated with the downlink SDT from the wireless communications network while operating in the RRC INACTIVE state (see Alfarhan [0070], [0127] note WTRU context in RRC_Inactive may include the configuration of logical channels. Also note, one or more predetermined conditions was fulfilled in the independent claim already and this claim does not clarify that more the predetermined condition must include the condition claimed herein is in addition to the previous condition fulfillment).
Claim 70
Consider claim 70, Alfarhan teaches wherein the one or more predetermined conditions further comprise a radio link control (RLC) channel having been configured for the UE to receive data associated with the downlink SDT from the wireless communications network while operating in the RRC INACTIVE state (see Alfarhan [0118] note monitoring a PDCCH for reception of a DL assignment and control signaling. Also note, one or more predetermined conditions was fulfilled in the independent claim already and this claim does not clarify that more the predetermined condition must include the condition claimed herein is in addition to the previous condition fulfillment).
Claim 71
Consider claim 71, Alfarhan teaches wherein the one or more predetermined conditions comprise an amount of data currently stored in a buffer of the UE being lower than a preconfigured threshold amount (see Alfarhan [0062], [0114] note buffering DL packets and TBS less than the TSB threshold for SDT. Also note, one or more predetermined conditions was fulfilled in the independent claim already and this claim does not clarify that more the predetermined condition must include the condition claimed herein is in addition to the previous condition fulfillment).
Claim 72
Consider claim 72, Alfarhan teaches wherein the configured downlink RSRP threshold is set from an mt-SDT-RSRP-Threshold parameter when the mt-SDT-RSRP- Threshold parameter is configured, and is set from an sdt-RSRP-Threshold parameter when the mt-SDT-RSRP-Threshold parameter is not configured and the sdt-RSRP-Threshold parameter is configured (see Alfarhan [0147] note WTRU has a RSRP above a configured threshold. Also note, one or more predetermined conditions fulfilled in the independent which may not include the RSRP condition).
Claim 73
Consider claim 73, Alfarhan teaches further comprising: when at least one of the one or more predetermined conditions is not met: transitioning, by the UE, from the RRC INACTiVE state to a connected state, wherein the UE is able, while in the connected state, to receive the downlink data from the wireless communications network (see Alfarhan Fig. 2, [0114], [0115] note sending HARQ feedback and when the condition is not satisfied, WTRU may transition to Connected Mode and/or transmit an RRC connection request using a legacy RA procedure).
Claim 74
Consider claim 74, Alfarhan teaches wherein the paging message comprises a flag indicating that the wireless communications network is to transmit the downlink SDT to the UE (see Alfarhan [0042], [0102] note triggering paging when the DL data is available for the WTRU).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARCUS C HAMMONDS whose telephone number is (571)270-3193. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00AM-6:00PM.
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, ALISON T. SLATER can be reached at (571)270-0375. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARCUS HAMMONDS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
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