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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed on 2022-05-24.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 2024-12-06 and 2025-08-21 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 7 objected to because of the following informalities: the claim recites “wherein that the second downlink …” for examination purposes examiner interpreted as “wherein the second downlink …”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 7 objected to because of the following informalities: the claim recites “based on the small data timer expring, deactivating …” for examination purposes examiner interpreted as “based on the small data timer expiring, deactivating …”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claims 1-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being clearly anticipated by Park et al. (US-20230379880-A1, EFD: 2020-10-21) hereinafter Park.
For examination purposes, claims mirroring the same limitations or which disclose analogous art to the invention as claimed are henceforth grouped together.
Regarding claims 1, 16 and 18, Park discloses a data transmission method, user equipment and non-transitory computer readable medium, applied to a network device, wherein the method comprises: receiving a first downlink data packet; based on the first downlink data packet meeting a preset transmission scenario, sending an enhanced paging message to a user equipment, wherein the enhanced paging message carries a mobile-terminated small data transmission indication (Park, fig. 24, par. 253; a base station distributed unit (DU) may receive, from a base station central unit (CU), a message (e.g., an F1 message) requesting to page a wireless device. The base station DU may construct one or more paging message before the base station DU receives downlink data for the wireless device. The base station DU may broadcast/transmit the one or more paging messages. Based on the one or more paging messages, the wireless device may request an RRC connection. In the case of a small data transmission (SDT) procedure (e.g., early data transmission (EDT), mobile-terminated early data transmission (MT-EDT), etc.), the RRC connection may not be necessary), so that the user equipment activates a corresponding target bearer based on the mobile-terminated small data transmission indication (Park, fig. 24, par. 255; Example embodiments may support that a base station CU (and/or base station CU-CP) sends information of an SDT procedure to a base station DU. The information of the SDT procedure may be used to implement paging. In an example, the base station CU may send to the base station DU a first paging message (e.g., an F1 paging message) indicating the SDT procedure. The base station DU may determine, based on the first paging message (and possibly other considerations, e.g., resource availability), whether one or more second paging messages sent to the wireless device should indicate the SDT procedure. Additionally or alternatively, the first paging message may indicate a size of the downlink data); and receiving a paging response message from the user equipment, and sending the first downlink data to the user equipment, so that the user equipment in a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state receives the first downlink data packet based on the target bearer (park. Fig. 25, par. 262; In an example, the FIG. 25 shows a flow diagram of an example procedure of the small data transmission (e.g., the early data transmission) of the wireless device when the base station comprises the base station DU and the base station CU that may comprise the base station CU-CP and the base station CU-UP. A small data transmission (SDT) may be interpreted as at least one of an EDT, an MT-EDT, an MO-EDT, an uplink SDT, a downlink SDT, and/or the like).
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Regarding claims 9 and 17, Park discloses a data transmission method and apparatus, applied to a user equipment, wherein the method comprises: receiving an enhanced paging message from a network device, wherein the enhanced paging message carries a mobile-terminated small data transmission indication; activating a corresponding target bearer based on the mobile-terminated small data(park. Fig. 25, par. 262; In an example, the FIG. 25 shows a flow diagram of an example procedure of the small data transmission (e.g., the early data transmission) of the wireless device when the base station comprises the base station DU and the base station CU that may comprise the base station CU-CP and the base station CU-UP. A small data transmission (SDT) may be interpreted as at least one of an EDT, an MT-EDT, an MO-EDT, an uplink SDT, a downlink SDT, and/or the like) see also fig. 24.
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Regarding claims 2 and 10, park discloses the data transmission method according to claim 1 and 9, wherein the enhanced paging message further carries a trigger indication and a receive indication, the trigger indication is used to indicate the user equipment not to send an RRC resume request message to the network device based on receiving the enhanced paging message, and the receive indication is used to indicate the user equipment to receive, in the RRC inactive state, the first downlink data packet sent by the network device (Park, figs 24-25, par. 256; Based on the RRC request, the base station CU may release an RRC connection of the wireless device after transmitting data for the wireless device. Example embodiments may decrease power consumption of wireless devices and increase signaling efficiency by releasing unnecessary connections of wireless devices. Example embodiments may increase size of an F1 message from a base station CU-CP and/or a base station CU to a base station DU to request to page a wireless device) see also par. 253 and fig. 27.
Regarding claims 3 and 11, park discloses the data transmission method according to claim 1 and 9, further comprising: sending the first downlink data packet to the user equipment by using a downlink media access control layer protocol data unit, wherein the downlink media access control layer protocol data unit carries a media access control layer control unit, and the media access control layer control unit is configured to indicate the user equipment not to send the RRC resume request message to the network device based on receiving the enhanced paging message, and receive, in the RRC inactive state, the first downlink data packet sent by the network device (Park, fig. 27, par. 265; The indication message may comprise at least one of: an identifier of the wireless device, a packet flow identifier of a packet flow (e.g., PDU session, QoS flow, bearer, logical channel, etc.) associated with the data, paging area information (e.g., RAN area, registration area, tracking area, etc.), DRX periodicity information, power saving mode information, wake up signal (WUS) timing information, and/or the like) see also pars. 247-248.
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Regarding claims 4 and 15, park discloses the data transmission method according to claims 1 and 9, wherein determining that the first downlink data packet meets the preset transmission scenario comprises: determining that the first downlink data packet is a small data packet (Park, fig. 24, par 253; The base station DU may construct one or more paging message before the base station DU receives downlink data for the wireless device. The base station DU may broadcast/transmit the one or more paging messages. Based on the one or more paging messages, the wireless device may request an RRC connection. In the case of a small data transmission (SDT) procedure (e.g., early data transmission (EDT), mobile-terminated early data transmission (MT-EDT), etc.), the RRC connection may not be necessary.); and/or the first downlink data packet carries transmission indication information, and the transmission indication information is used to indicate that the first downlink data packet meets the preset transmission scenario (Park, fig. 24, par. 255; Example embodiments may support that a base station CU (and/or base station CU-CP) sends information of an SDT procedure to a base station DU. The information of the SDT procedure may be used to implement paging. In an example, the base station CU may send to the base station DU a first paging message (e.g., an F1 paging message) indicating the SDT procedure. The base station DU may determine, based on the first paging message (and possibly other considerations, e.g., resource availability), whether one or more second paging messages sent to the wireless device should indicate the SDT procedure. Additionally or alternatively, the first paging message may indicate a size of the downlink data. The base station DU may use the size indication to determine whether the one or more second paging messages should indicate the SDT procedure. As a result, the SDT procedure may be indicated to the wireless device during the paging process, and unnecessary RRC connections may be avoided, thereby reducing resource consumption and signaling overhead) examiner notes, see MPEP 2111.04 for conditional limitation.
Regarding claims 5, park discloses the data transmission method according to claim 1, wherein the enhanced paging message further carries a bearer identity, so that the user equipment activates the corresponding target bearer based on the bearer identity and the mobile-terminated small data transmission indication (Park, fig. 27, par. 265; The indication message may comprise at least one of: an identifier of the wireless device, a packet flow identifier of a packet flow (e.g., PDU session, QoS flow, bearer, logical channel, etc.) associated with the data, paging area information (e.g., RAN area, registration area, tracking area, etc.), DRX periodicity information, power saving mode information, wake up signal (WUS) timing information, and/or the like) see also pars. 247-248.
Regarding claims 6 and 13, park discloses the data transmission method according to claim 1 and 9, wherein the method further comprises: receiving a second downlink data packet to be sent to the user equipment, wherein the second downlink data packet does not meet the preset transmission scenario; and/or receiving an uplink data packet from the user equipment, and based on the uplink data packet not meeting the preset transmission scenario, sending an RRC resume message to the user equipment, so that the user equipment migrates from the RRC inactive state to an RRC connected states wherein a time for receiving the first downlink data packet by the network device is earlier than a time for receiving the second downlink data packet and the uplink data packet by the network device (Park, fig. 24, par. 255; Example embodiments may support that a base station CU (and/or base station CU-CP) sends information of an SDT procedure to a base station DU. The information of the SDT procedure may be used to implement paging. In an example, the base station CU may send to the base station DU a first paging message (e.g., an F1 paging message) indicating the SDT procedure. The base station DU may determine, based on the first paging message (and possibly other considerations, e.g., resource availability), whether one or more second paging messages sent to the wireless device should indicate the SDT procedure. Additionally or alternatively, the first paging message may indicate a size of the downlink data. The base station DU may use the size indication to determine whether the one or more second paging messages should indicate the SDT procedure. As a result, the SDT procedure may be indicated to the wireless device during the paging process, and unnecessary RRC connections may be avoided, thereby reducing resource consumption and signaling overhead) see also pars. 249 and 313-314. Examiner notes, please refer to MPEP 2111.04 for conditional limitations.
Regarding claims 7 and 14, park discloses the data transmission method according to claim 1 and 9, wherein that the second downlink data packet does not meet the preset transmission scenario, and/or that the uplink data packet does not meet the preset transmission scenario comprises: the second downlink data packet is a non-small data packet (Park, par. 255; The base station DU may use the size indication to determine whether the one or more second paging messages should indicate the SDT procedure. As a result, the SDT procedure may be indicated to the wireless device during the paging process, and unnecessary RRC connections may be avoided, thereby reducing resource consumption and signaling overhead)) see also par. 254; and/or the uplink data packet is a non-small data packets and/or a quantity of the second downlink data packets is greater than a quantity threshold (Park, par. 267; The UPF may send, to the SMF and/or the AMF (e.g., via the SMF), the core data notification indicating the reception of the data. In an example, the UPF and/or the SMF may determine that the data is smaller than a threshold size value. The core data notification may comprise a parameter indicating size of the data (e.g., indicating small) and/or the SDT procedure); and/or a quantity of the uplink data packets is greater than a quantity threshold and/or a size of the second downlink data packet is greater than a size threshold and/or a size of the uplink data packet is greater than a size threshold (Park, par. 270; The RAN paging message from the second base station to the base station CU-CP may be based on the data (e.g., the user plane data and/or the NAS message) from the second UPF and/or the second core network device. In an example, the second base station may determine that size of the data (e.g., the user plane data from the second user plane function and/or the NAS message from the second core network device) is smaller than a threshold size value. Based on the determination of the size of the data being small, the RAN paging message may comprise the information parameter indicating at least one of the size of data or the SDT procedure for the user plane data and/or the NAS message for the wireless device). Examiner notes, please refer to MPEP 2111.04 for conditional limitations.
Regarding claims 8, park discloses the data transmission method according to claim 1, wherein sending the first downlink data packet to the user equipment comprises: determining that the first downlink data packet is a single data packet (Park, par. 303; the base station DU may receive, from the wireless device, at least one of: the RRC request message for the SDT procedure, uplink data associated with the SDT procedure, at least one assistance parameter (e.g., release assistant information, RAI) indicating whether at least one subsequent data transmission and/or the downlink data (e.g., the data for the wireless device) is expected, and/or the like. In an example, the receiving the at least one assistance parameter may comprise receiving the at least one assistance parameter via at least one of: at least one medium access control control element (MAC CE), a physical uplink channel (e.g., PUCCH, PUCCH, UCI, etc.), at least one radio link control (RLC) packet header, and/or the like); or starting, by the network device, a small data timer when sending the first downlink data packet to the user equipment, and based on the small data timer expiring and no new downlink data packet to be sent to the user equipment is received, sending an RRC release message to the user equipment (Park, par. 251; In an example, in case that a pur-NumOccasions is set to one, for the first PUR occasion, if transmission using PUR is not initiated or if transmission using PUR has been initiated, after the completion of the transmission using PUR the UE may release pur-Config, may discard previously stored pur-Config, and/or may indicate to lower layers that pur-TimeAlignmentTimer is released (e.g., if pur-TimeAlignmentTimer is configured)) see also par 252, please refer to MPEP 2111.04 for conditional limitations.
Regarding claims 12, park discloses the data transmission method according to claim 9, wherein the RRC inactive state comprises a first RRC inactive state and a second RRC inactive state, and when sending the paging response message to the network device, the user equipment is in the first RRC inactive state, and the method further comprises: starting a small data packet timer; and based on the small data packet timer expiring, deactivating the target bearer and migrating the user equipment from the first RRC inactive state to the second RRC inactive state (Park, fig. 29, par. 270; In an example, the second base station may receive the data from a second user plane function (UPF) (e.g., the UPF) and/or a second core network device (e.g., AMF, SMF, MME) for the wireless device, which may be in an RRC inactive state and/or an RRC idle state. The data may comprise at least one of user plane data (e.g., UP data) from the second UPF and/or a NAS message (e.g., CP data) from the second core network device (e.g., the NAS message from an AMF or from an SMF). In an example, when the wireless device is in an RRC inactive state, the second base station may maintain/keep one or more PDU sessions (e.g., one or more QoS flows, one or more bearers, etc.) of the wireless device and/or may monitor downlink packets (e.g., the data) via the one or more PDU sessions. Based on monitoring the one or more PDU sessions (e.g., the one or more QoS flows, the one or more bearers, etc.), the second base station may receive the data for the wireless device from the second user plane function) see also par. 282.
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It is noted that any citations to specific pages, columns, lines or figures in the prior art
references and any interpretation of the reference should not be considered limiting in any way. A
reference is relevant for all it contains and may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably
suggested to a person of ordinary skill in the art. See MPEP 2123
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Wu et al. (US-20230292286-A1) Enhanced Paging Procedure For Random Access Or Small Data Transmission, 2023. Disclosed are devices supporting an enhanced paging procedure for random access or small data transmission. An example UE may include at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code. The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the UE to receive a paging message from a network device and transmit a signal to the network device using an UL grant. The paging message may include an identity of the UE (UE ID) and the UL grant. The related methods, apparatuses and computer program products are also disclosed.
Shan et al. (US-20140269779-A1) METHOD TO ENABLE OPTIMIZATION FOR SMALL DATA IN AN EVOLVED PACKET CORE (EPC), 2014. Embodiments of a system and method for providing small data and device triggering enhancement (SDDTE) are generally described herein. In some embodiments, memory is provided for storing an SDDTE optimization container therein. A processor is coupled to the memory and is arranged to analyze an SDDTE optimization container including parameters provided therein and to perform SDDTE optimization based on the parameters. The parameters provided by the SDDTE optimization container include an SDDTE optimization timer, wherein the processor holds in the memory small data messages received during a time frame set by the SDDTE optimization timer upon receipt of a first small data message.
Velev et al. (US-11743794-B2) Short Message Transmission And Handover Procedures, 2023. A method performed by a connectivity-related network entity is provided. The method includes: receiving, from a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway and a Serving Gateway (SGW), a Short Message Service (SMS) message to be sent in a downlink; determining to use a control plane only, out of the control plane and a user plane, for transferring the SMS message; transmitting a trigger message to a user equipment to initiate establishment of connectivity with the user equipment via the control plane only and not via the user plane, wherein the user equipment starts a timer when the establishment of the control plane connectivity is initiated; receiving a response message from the user equipment; encapsulating the SMS message in a security protected Non-Access Stratum (NAS) message; and transmitting the security protected NAS message to the user equipment, in receipt of which the user equipment stops the timer.
Xu (US-20250220636-A1), PAGING METHOD AND APPARATUS THEREOF, 2025. Disclosed are a paging method and a paging apparatus. The method includes the following. A first access network device sends a first paging message to a second access network device, where the first paging message contains an identity of a terminal device to be paged and indication information for indicating that mobile terminated-small data transmission (MT-SDT) is to be performed.
Hsu et al. (US-20160316451-A1), Enhanced Paging Mechanism For Machine Type Communication, 2016. Enhanced paging mechanisms are proposed for Machine Type Communication (MTC) devices in 3GPP networks. First, adaptive paging is proposed to adaptively allocate extra paging occasions for MTC devices with no extra procedure or power consumption on normal UEs. Second, group paging is proposed to simultaneously page a plurality of MTC devices with one paging. Group paging is controlled in different levels for optimized signaling and easier management. In one embodiment, group broadcasting and group release are used. Third, paging with response policy is proposed to pre-define or dynamically configure paging response policies for MTC devices.
Yue et al. (US-20250056646-A1), METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR PAGING ENHANCEMENT IN MT-SDT, 2025. The present application relates to methods and apparatuses for paging enhancement in mobile terminating small data transmission (MT-SDT). One embodiment of the present disclosure provides a first network node, which includes: a processor; a transceiver coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to: receive, via the transceiver, first information associated with mobile terminating small data transmission (MT-SDT) for a user equipment (UE) from a second network node; and determine whether or not to indicate the MT-SDT to the UE based on at least the first information received from the second network node.
Palat et al. (US-20230189380-A1), SMALL DATA EXCHANGE HANDLING BY A USER EQUIPMENT IN INACTIVE STATE, 2023. Various embodiments herein provide techniques for small data transmission of a user equipment (UE) in a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state. The techniques may be used with a next generation Node B (gNB) that employs a distributed unit (DU)/centralized unit (CU) split. The DU receives, from the UE in the RRC inactive state, data and processing information for processing for the data, processes the data based on a radio link control (RLC) bearer, and sends the processed data to the CU.
I. L. Da Silva, G. Mildh, M. Säily and S. Hailu, "A novel state model for 5G Radio Access Networks," 2016 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops (ICC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2016, pp. 632-637, doi: 10.1109/ICCW.2016.7503858. With the trends towards Internet of Things (IoT) and massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC) it is expected that the 5th Generation of mobile communications (5G) will have a significant amount of battery powered devices (e.g. sensors, baggage tags, etc.). Therefore, battery efficiency and duration will be essential, especially for those devices in remote locations and/or restricted areas. It would be difficult to predict all the 5G use cases, for example, that may arise from IoT however it is expected that for some of these the tradeoff between efficient power savings modes and low-latency system access might be essential. In order to solve this tradeoff, called herein User Equipment (UE) sleeping problem, the paper proposes a novel state model for 5G Radio Access Networks (RAN) that relies on a novel state called “connected inactive” where both the UE and the network does not throw away context information. The state is envisioned to be highly configurable in order to address unpredictable use cases possibly with different requirements. It is shown via protocol signaling diagrams that that the proposed solution enables a quick and lightweight transition from inactive to active data transmission.
A. Khlass and D. Laselva, "Efficient Handling of Small Data Transmission for RRC Inactive UEs in 5G Networks," 2021 IEEE 93rd Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2021-Spring), Helsinki, Finland, 2021, pp. 1-7, doi: 10.1109/VTC2021-Spring51267.2021.9448945. Small Data Transmission (SDT) in RRC Inactive state is one of the new features being introduced in 3GPP Release 17 for 5G NR. It enables UEs in RRC Inactive state to transmit infrequent and small data without requiring an RRC state transition. In this paper, we study the envisioned SDT solutions, namely RACH-based SDT and CG-based SDT. We evaluate their performance in terms of packet delay, UE power consumption, signaling overhead and physical resource efficiency. Results show that all SDT solutions bring attractive gains as compared to the conventional data transfer after the RRC connection resume. Particularly, CG-based SDT solution achieves the highest gains with 73% in UE power efficiency and 85% in latency reduction. It enables to reduce the signaling overhead and to save the physical resource usage by 78%. We further analyse the performance sensitivity to the payload size, the traffic arrival rate and the UE mobility pattern.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARIO R CAMPERO MIRAMONTES whose telephone number is (571)272-5792. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Thursday 0600 - 1600.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yuwen (Kevin) Pan can be reached at (571) 272-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARIO R CAMPERO MIRAMONTES/Examiner, Art Unit 2649 /YUWEN PAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2649
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