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 statements (IDS) submitted on 10/1/24. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered 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) 1, 2, 4 - 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Awad et al. (US Publication 2025/0212174) disclosed in EP 22164839.7 (in English).
Regarding claims 1 and 13, Awad teaches an apparatus and a method for managing small data transmission (SDT) with a radio access network (RAN) including a RAN node, the method implemented in a user equipment (UE) and comprising: (i.e. fig. 5 shows a UE (101) in communication with a access network device (102), the UE comprising a processor, memory and transceiver for executing programmed instructions; see paragraphs 93, 94)
operating in an inactive state; (i.e. fig. 6 shows the UE operating in a RRC_INACTIVE state; see paragraph 99)
receiving an SDT configuration from the RAN; (i.e. fig 6. shows the UE may receive a paging message from a network node (S2), the paging message may comprise SDT configuration information; see paragraphs 100 - 105)
detecting whether one or more initiation conditions are met for a second SDT type wherein the second SDT type is configured grant SDT (CG-SDT); (i.e. fig. 6 shows the UE may determine multiple threshold determinations in order to determine whether the UE selects a configured grant SDT (CG-SDT) (see S4 – S8); see paragraphs 113 - 118)
in a first instance, when the UE supports a first SDT type and the one or more initiation conditions are not met: (i.e. fig, 6 shows multiple threshold conditions are determined (s4 – s8) including support for random access SDT (SDT) (see s9); see paragraphs 113 - 118)
performing an SDT procedure in accordance with the first SDT type, wherein the first SDT type is random access SDT (RA-SDT), (i.e. fig. 6 shows when the multiple threshold conditions for CG-SDT are not met (s4 – s8) and the UE supports RA-SDT (s9), the UE may perform RA-SDT (see S11); see paragraphs 113 - 118) and transmitting, to the RAN node, an indication that the UE supports the first SDT type; (i.e. the UE may notify the network node which SDT procedure is selected; see paragraphs 115 - 118)
in a second instance, when the one or more initiations conditions are met, performing the SDT procedure in accordance with the second SDT type; (i.e. fig. 6 shows when the multiple conditions are met (see s4 – s8) the UE may perform SDT using CG-SDT (see s10); see paragraphs 113 - 115) and
in a third instance, when the UE does not support the first SDT type, refraining from performing the SDT procedure. (i.e. fig. 6 shows when RA-SDT is not supported (see s9), the UE does not perform SDT; see paragraphs 111 - 112)
Regarding claims 2 and 14, Awad teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the refraining includes: in the second third instance, performing a resume procedure when the UE does not support the first SDT type. i.e. fig. 6 shows when RA-SDT is not supported (see s9), the UE does not perform SDT and the UE may move for RRC_INACTIVE to RRC_CONNECTED; see paragraphs 111 - 112)
Regarding claims 4 and 15, Awad teaches The method of claim 1, wherein the first instance further corresponds to when the RAN node supports the first SDT type. (i.e. fig. 6 shows multiple threshold conditions for RA-SDT, including RAN support; see paragraphs 100 - 105)
Regarding claims 5 and 16, Awad teaches the method of claim 4, wherein the refraining includes: in the second third instance, performing a resume procedure when the RAN node does not support the first SDT type. (i.e. fig. 6 shows multiple threshold conditions for RA-SDT, including RAN support. Wherein failure to support results in “s5” condition or return to RRC_CONNECTED; see paragraphs 100 - 105)
Regarding claims 6 and 17, Awad teaches the method of claim 4, further comprising: determining, based on the SDT configuration, that the RAN node supports the first SDT type when the SDT configuration includes a configuration specific to the first SDT type. . (i.e. fig. 6 shows multiple threshold conditions for RA-SDT, including RAN support wherein support may result in RA-SDT based on other conditions; see paragraphs 100 - 105)
Regarding claims 7 and 18, Awad teaches the method of claim 4, further comprising: determining, based on the SDT configuration, that the RAN node does not support the first SDT type communication when the SDT configuration does not include a configuration specific to the first SDT type. (i.e. fig. 6 shows multiple threshold conditions for RA-SDT, including RAN support wherein support may result in RA-SDT based on other conditions; see paragraphs 100 - 105)
Regarding claims 8 and 19, Awad teaches the method of claim 6, wherein the configuration specific to the first SDT type includes at least one of: (i) a random access configuration or (ii) a timer value for the first SDT type. (i.e. one of the threshold values may correspond to a timing alignment timer associated with the random access resources; see paragraphs 113, 114, 130, 181)
Regarding claims 9 and 20, Awad teaches the method of claim 1 any of the preceding claims, the method further comprising: initiating an SDT communication procedure; and determining, after initiating the SDT communication procedure, whether the UE supports
the first SDT type. (i.e. fig. 6 shows a process or determining a SDT or non-SDT communication procedure, the SDT procedure further determining between RA-SDT or CG-SDT, the process starting in the SDT communication procedure (RRC-INACTIVE, then determining RA-SDT support (s9)); see paragraph 99)
Regarding claims 10, Awad teaches the method of claim 9, further comprising: in the second instance, stopping the SDT communication procedure after determining that the UE does not support the first SDT type. (i.e. fig. 9 shows that after determination that the UE does not support RA-SDT (s9), the UE may proceed to RRC_CONNECTED (s5); see paragraphs 111, 112)
Regarding claims 11, Awad teaches the method of claim 9, wherein the initiating is in response to determining that one or more SDT initiation conditions are met. (i.e. fig. 9 shows RA-SDT is initiated (s11) when conditions are met (S2-S9); see paragraphs 111, 112 and 115 – 118 )
Regarding claims 12 and 21, Awad teaches the method of claim 11, wherein the one or more SDT initiation conditions include at least one of: (i) whether a system information block of a cell currently used by the UE includes an SDT configuration; (ii) whether all pending data for transmission is associated with radio bearers for SDT; (iii) whether data volume of all pending data is lower than or equal to a first predetermined threshold; or (iv) whether signal strength of a downlink path loss reference is higher than a second predetermined threshold. (i.e. fig. 9 shows one of the initiation conditions may include DL RSRP (DL signal strength path loss) (see s6))
Conclusion
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ROBERT J. LOPATA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2471
/ROBERT J LOPATA/
September 9, 2026Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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