DETAILED ACTION
Status of Case
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This Office Action is in response to the claims filed on 11/21/2024.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) filed on 12/20/2024 and 5/29/2025 have been considered by Examiner.
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 1-4, 13-16, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cirik (EP 3905831 A1) in view of Fakoorian (USPAN 2020/0322980).
Consider claims 1 and 20, Cirik discloses a method for wireless communication (see figure 32, reproduced below for convenience, wherein disclosed is said method), and a corresponding device, comprising at least one processor; one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media coupled to the at least one processor and storing programming instructions for execution by the at least one processor, wherein the programming instructions, when executed, cause the device to perform operations (see figure 3, wherein disclosed is said device comprising said processor and computer-readable storage media) comprising:
determining, based on first information, one or more of the following events: whether a first transmission occasion for a first terminal to transmit a small data packet is valid (see paragraph 353: “The bundle of the configured uplink grant may be for an ultra-reliable and low latency communication (uRLLC) service, a V2X service, an IoT service, and/or the like. For example, when the wireless device has a transport block (TB) for an uRLLC service, the wireless device may transmit the TB via an uplink resource (of an uplink grant) of the periodic uplink resources of the bundle of the configured uplink grant,” where the first transmission occasion is for URLLC, V2X or IOT services which are services with small data packets, and the base station determines based on this first information of the service type, by using configured uplink grant, to allocate PUSCH resources of the first transmission occasion to the first device, which is the determination by the network device of the validity of the transmission occasion for the first terminal to transmit a small data packet); or whether a second transmission occasion for a second terminal to transmit a message A in a two-step random access procedure is valid (see paragraph 256: “based on the completing the contention-free two-step random-access procedure, the base station may allocate/assign the contention-free PUSCH resource(s) to a second wireless device… This may lead to unsuccessful reception of MsgA payload at the base station,” where a contention-free two-step random-access procedure is completed by the first device, during a first transmission occasion, then the base station determines to allocate PUSCH resources to a second wireless device to transmit a message A in a two-step random access procedure during a second transmission occasion, and the first transmission occasion is, among other options, a transmission occasion for a first terminal to transmit small data packet, as explained in paragraph 147: “A wireless device in an RRC INACTIVE state may perform a two-step RA procedure, e.g., for a small data transmission while remaining in the RRC INACTIVE state or for resuming a connection”); wherein resources of the second transmission occasion at least partially overlap with resources of the first transmission occasion (see paragraph 358: “the base station may configure overlapping resources for a bundle of configured uplink grant and the PUSCH resources of the two-step random-access procedure for the same cell,” where the resources for URLLC, V2X, or IoT services, i.e. small data packets transmission, overlap with resources to transmit a message A in a two-step random-access procedure; see paragraph 25: “When the wireless device does not release the contention-free PUSCH resource(s) assigned/allocated to the second wireless device, the wireless device and the second wireless device may transmit via the contention-free PUSCH resource(s) resulting in collision” where the second transmission occasion overlaps with the first transmission occasion); and wherein the first information includes one or more of: a service type of the small data packet; a trigger condition for triggering two-step random access; or a number of retransmissions for the small data packet (see paragraphs 353 and 358: where the first information includes the service type of small data packet transmission as “URLLC service” or “a V2X service, an IoT service”).
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Although Cirik can be construed to disclose determining whether a first transmission occasion for a first terminal to transmit a packet is valid based on first information, where the first information includes one or more of: a service type of the data packet, a trigger condition for triggering two-step random access; or a number of retransmissions for the data packet (see above),
Fakoorian is relied upon to disclose more explicitly disclose determining whether a first transmission occasion for a first terminal to transmit a packet is valid based on first information, where the first information includes one or more of: a service type of the data packet, a trigger condition for triggering two-step random access; or a number of retransmissions for the data packet (see figure 5, reproduced below for convenience; also, see paragraph 128: “The resource structures 500-a and 500-b illustrate resource allocations for a first configured grant and a second configured grant. The first configured grant and the second configured grant may be associated with traffic of different priorities. For example, the first configured grant may be associated with traffic of a first service type (e.g., URLLC) that has a higher priority than traffic of a second service type (e.g., eMBB) that is associated with the second configured grant. The description of resource structures 500-a and 500-b illustrate procedures related to validation of uplink transmission occasions 315 that are related to checking service types or priority of traffic for configured grants.”; also, see paragraph 179: “The priority manager 1035 may determine that a first service type of traffic communicated using the first configured grant has a lower priority than a second service type of traffic communicated using the second configured grant, where validating the uplink transmission occasion is based on determining that the first service type has the lower priority than the second service type.”
Thus, these cited sections of Fakoorian disclose that the first information includes a service type of the packet, which is used to determine whether a first transmission occasion for a first terminal to transmit a data packet is valid).
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Cirik and combine it with the noted teachings of Fakoorian. The motivation to combine these references is to provide a method to validate uplink configured grants (see paragraph 2 of Fakoorian).
Consider claims 4 and 16, Cirik does not specifically disclose that the service type of the small data packet is determined based on the resources of the first transmission occasion.
Fakoorian discloses that the service type of the small data packet is determined based on the resources of the first transmission occasion (see figure 5, reproduced below for convenience; also, see paragraph 128: “The resource structures 500-a and 500-b illustrate resource allocations for a first configured grant and a second configured grant. The first configured grant and the second configured grant may be associated with traffic of different priorities. For example, the first configured grant may be associated with traffic of a first service type (e.g., URLLC) that has a higher priority than traffic of a second service type (e.g., eMBB) that is associated with the second configured grant. The description of resource structures 500-a and 500-b illustrate procedures related to validation of uplink transmission occasions 315 that are related to checking service types or priority of traffic for configured grants.”; also, see paragraph 179: “The priority manager 1035 may determine that a first service type of traffic communicated using the first configured grant has a lower priority than a second service type of traffic communicated using the second configured grant, where validating the uplink transmission occasion is based on determining that the first service type has the lower priority than the second service type”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Cirik and combine it with the noted teachings of Fakoorian. The motivation to combine these references is to provide a method to validate uplink configured grants (see paragraph 2 of Fakoorian).
Consider claims 2 and 14, Cirik does not disclose that the first transmission occasion is valid or the second transmission occasion is invalid if the first information meets a first condition, and the first condition includes one or more of: the service type of the small data packet being an ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) service; the service type of the small data packet being a massive machine type communication (mMTC) service; the trigger condition for triggering the two-step random access not including beam failure recovery; the trigger condition for triggering the two-step random access not including scheduling request (SR) failure; or the trigger condition for triggering the two-step random access not including requesting other system information (SI).
Fakoorian discloses that the first transmission occasion is valid or the second transmission occasion is invalid if the first information meets a first condition, and the first condition includes one or more of: the service type of the small data packet being an ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) service; the service type of the small data packet being a massive machine type communication (mMTC) service; the trigger condition for triggering the two-step random access not including beam failure recovery; the trigger condition for triggering the two-step random access not including scheduling request (SR) failure; or the trigger condition for triggering the two-step random access not including requesting other system information (SI) (see paragraph 128: “The first configured grant and the second configured grant may be associated with traffic of different priorities. For example, the first configured grant may be associated with traffic of a first service type (e.g., URLLC) that has a higher priority than traffic of a second service type (e.g., eMBB) that is associated with the second configured grant.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Cirik and combine it with the noted teachings of Fakoorian. The motivation to combine these references is to provide a method to validate uplink configured grants (see paragraph 2 of Fakoorian).
Consider claims 3 and 15, Cirik does not disclose that the first transmission occasion is invalid or the second transmission occasion is valid if the first information meets a second condition, and the second condition includes one or more of: the service type of the small data packet being an enhance mobile broadband (eMBB) service; the service type of the small data packet being a URLLC service; the trigger condition for triggering the two-step random access including beam failure recovery; the trigger condition for triggering the two-step random access including SR failure; the trigger condition for triggering the two-step random access including requesting other SI; or the number of retransmissions for the small data packet being higher than a preset threshold.
Fakoorian discloses that the first transmission occasion is invalid or the second transmission occasion is valid if the first information meets a second condition, and the second condition includes one or more of: the service type of the small data packet being an enhance mobile broadband (eMBB) service; the service type of the small data packet being a URLLC service; the trigger condition for triggering the two-step random access including beam failure recovery; the trigger condition for triggering the two-step random access including SR failure; the trigger condition for triggering the two-step random access including requesting other SI; or the number of retransmissions for the small data packet being higher than a preset threshold (see paragraph 128: “The first configured grant and the second configured grant may be associated with traffic of different priorities. For example, the first configured grant may be associated with traffic of a first service type (e.g., URLLC) that has a higher priority than traffic of a second service type (e.g., eMBB) that is associated with the second configured grant.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Cirik and combine it with the noted teachings of Fakoorian. The motivation to combine these references is to provide a method to validate uplink configured grants (see paragraph 2 of Fakoorian).
Consider claim 13, Cirik discloses a method for wireless communication (see figure 32, reproduced below for convenience, wherein disclosed is said method), comprising:
transmitting, by a first terminal, a small data packet to a network device on a first transmission occasion (see paragraph 353: “The bundle of the configured uplink grant may be for an ultra-reliable and low latency communication (uRLLC) service, a V2X service, an IoT service, and/or the like. For example, when the wireless device has a transport block (TB) for an uRLLC service, the wireless device may transmit the TB via an uplink resource (of an uplink grant) of the periodic uplink resources of the bundle of the configured uplink grant,” where the first transmission occasion is for URLLC, V2X or IOT services which are services with small data packets, and the base station determines based on this first information of the service type, by using configured uplink grant, to allocate PUSCH resources of the first transmission occasion to the first device, which is the determination by the network device of the validity of the transmission occasion for the first terminal to transmit a small data packet; see paragraph 256: “based on the completing the contention-free two-step random-access procedure, the base station may allocate/assign the contention-free PUSCH resource(s) to a second wireless device… This may lead to unsuccessful reception of MsgA payload at the base station,” where a contention-free two-step random-access procedure is completed by the first device, during a first transmission occasion, then the base station determines to allocate PUSCH resources to a second wireless device to transmit a message A in a two-step random access procedure during a second transmission occasion, and the first transmission occasion is, among other options, a transmission occasion for a first terminal to transmit small data packet, as explained in paragraph 147: “A wireless device in an RRC INACTIVE state may perform a two-step RA procedure, e.g., for a small data transmission while remaining in the RRC INACTIVE state or for resuming a connection”), wherein resources of the first transmission occasion at least partially overlap with resources of a second transmission occasion (see paragraph 358: “the base station may configure overlapping resources for a bundle of configured uplink grant and the PUSCH resources of the two-step random-access procedure for the same cell,” where the resources for URLLC, V2X, or IoT services, i.e. small data packets transmission, overlap with resources to transmit a message A in a two-step random-access procedure; see paragraph 25: “When the wireless device does not release the contention-free PUSCH resource(s) assigned/allocated to the second wireless device, the wireless device and the second wireless device may transmit via the contention-free PUSCH resource(s) resulting in collision” where the second transmission occasion overlaps with the first transmission occasion); wherein the second transmission occasion is used for a second terminal to transmit a message A in a two-step random access procedure to the network device, and whether the first transmission occasion or the second transmission occasion is valid is determined based on first information; and wherein the first information includes one or more of: a service type of the small data packet; a trigger condition for triggering two-step random access; or a number of retransmissions for the small data packet (see paragraphs 353 and 358: where the first information includes the service type of small data packet transmission as “URLLC service” or “a V2X service, an IoT service”).
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Although Cirik can be construed to disclose determining whether a first transmission occasion for a first terminal to transmit a packet is valid based on first information, where the first information includes one or more of: a service type of the data packet, a trigger condition for triggering two-step random access; or a number of retransmissions for the data packet (see above),
Fakoorian is relied upon to disclose more explicitly disclose determining whether a first transmission occasion for a first terminal to transmit a packet is valid based on first information, where the first information includes one or more of: a service type of the data packet, a trigger condition for triggering two-step random access; or a number of retransmissions for the data packet (see figure 5, reproduced below for convenience; also, see paragraph 128: “The resource structures 500-a and 500-b illustrate resource allocations for a first configured grant and a second configured grant. The first configured grant and the second configured grant may be associated with traffic of different priorities. For example, the first configured grant may be associated with traffic of a first service type (e.g., URLLC) that has a higher priority than traffic of a second service type (e.g., eMBB) that is associated with the second configured grant. The description of resource structures 500-a and 500-b illustrate procedures related to validation of uplink transmission occasions 315 that are related to checking service types or priority of traffic for configured grants.”; also, see paragraph 179: “The priority manager 1035 may determine that a first service type of traffic communicated using the first configured grant has a lower priority than a second service type of traffic communicated using the second configured grant, where validating the uplink transmission occasion is based on determining that the first service type has the lower priority than the second service type.”
Thus, these cited sections of Fakoorian disclose that the first information includes a service type of the packet, which is used to determine whether a first transmission occasion for a first terminal to transmit a data packet is valid).
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Cirik and combine it with the noted teachings of Fakoorian. The motivation to combine these references is to provide a method to validate uplink configured grants (see paragraph 2 of Fakoorian).
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cirik (EP 3905831 A1) in view of Fakoorian (USPAN 2020/0322980) and Lei (USPAN 2022/0039146).
Consider claim 12, Cirik and Fakoorian do not specifically disclose that the resources of the first transmission occasion are configured grant small data transmission (CG-SDT) resources.
Lei discloses that the resources of the first transmission occasion are configured grant small data transmission (CG-SDT) resources (see figure 6 (reproduced below for convenience) and paragraphs 6 and 32: “using CG-SDT occasions for uplink transmissions”).
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Cirik and combine it with the noted teachings of Lei. The motivation to combine these references is to provide a method for nesting configured grant-small data transfer occasions (see paragraph 2 of Lei).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-11 and 17-19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jamal Javaid whose telephone number is 571-270-5137 and email address is Jamal.Javaid@uspto.gov.
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/JAMAL JAVAID/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
Prosecution Insights