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 .
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1-12 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-12 of U.S. Patent No. 12,192,013 B2. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because both claims are directed to the same procedure of configuration and activation of combined CA and DC duplication for a PDCP entity served by at least two RLC entities with the only difference being that the instant application is claimed from the perspective of the base station and the conflicting Patent is claimed from the perspective of the UE. Below is a table showing the correspondence between instant Claims 1-12 and Claims 1-12 of the conflicting Patent, with differences underlined.
Claim No.
instant application
(18/958,574)
Conflicting Patent
(US 12,192,013 B2)
Claim No.
1
A method for wireless communication performed by a base station (BS), the method comprising:
A method for wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
7
sending, to a user equipment (UE), a radio resource control (RRC) message comprising a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) configuration for a PDCP entity,
receiving, from a base station (BS), a radio resource control (RRC) message comprising a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) configuration for a PDCP entity,
the PDCP entity configured for being associated with more than two Radio Link Control (RLC) entities for Combine-Duplication,
the PDCP entity configured for being associated with more than two Radio Link Control (RLC) entities for Combine-Duplication,
the Combine-Duplication comprising a combination of Carrier Aggregation Duplication (CA-Duplication) and Dual Connectivity Duplication (DC-Duplication) for the PDCP entity,
a combination of Carrier Aggregation Duplication (CA-Duplication) and Dual Connectivity Duplication (DC-Duplication) for the PDCP entity,
wherein at least two RLC entities among the more than two RLC entities are associated with one of a master MAC entity (M-MAC) for a Master Cell Group (MCG) and a secondary MAC entity (S-MAC) for a Secondary Cell Group (SCG); and
wherein at least two RLC entities among the more than two RLC entities are associated with one of a master MAC entity (M-MAC) for a Master Cell Group (MCG) and a secondary MAC entity (S-MAC) for a Secondary Cell Group (SCG);
sending, to the UE, activation of a PDCP Combine-Duplication.
receiving, from the BS, activation of a PDCP Combine-Duplication;
activate the Combine-Duplication for the PDCP entity; and
submitting the PDCP Protocol Data Unit (PDU) to a set of activated RLC bearers among a plurality of RLC bearers associated with the more than two RLC entities.
2
The method of claim 1, wherein the RRC message is one of a RRC Reconfiguration message, a RRC Resume message, a RRC Reestablishment message, a RRC Setup message, and a downlink (DL) unicast RRC message.
The method of claim 7, wherein the RRC message is one of a RRC Reconfiguration message, a RRC Resume message, a RRC Reestablishment message, a RRC Setup message, and a downlink (DL) unicast RRC message.
8
3
The method of claim 1, wherein sending the activation of the PDCP Combine- Duplication comprises transmitting one of RRC signaling and Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) to the UE.
The method of claim 7, wherein the PDCP Combine-Duplication is activated by one of RRC signaling and Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE).
9
4
The method of claim 1, wherein each of a plurality of RLC bearers associated with a respective one of the more than two RLC entities is one of activated and deactivated, independently of others of the plurality of RLC bearers.
The method of claim 7, wherein each of the plurality of RLC bearers is one of activated and deactivated, independently of others of the plurality of RLC bearers.
10
5
The method of claim 4, wherein the each of the plurality of RLC bearers is one of activated and deactivated dependent on the PDCP Combine-Duplication being activated.
The method of claim 10, wherein the each of the plurality of RLC bearers is one of activated and deactivated done only when PDCP Combine-Duplication is activated.
11
6
The method of claim 4, wherein each of the plurality of RLC bearers is one of activated and deactivated by the BS.
The method of claim 10, wherein the each of the plurality of RLC bearers is one of activated and deactivated by the BS.
12
7
A base station (BS) comprising:
A user equipment (UE) comprising:
1
a transceiver; one or more non-transitory computer-readable media containing computer-executable instructions embodied therein; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver and the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, the at least one processor configured to execute the computer- executable instructions, and the computer-executable instructions causing the BS to:
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media containing computer-executable instructions embodied therein; and
at least one processor coupled to the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, the at least one processor configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:
transmit, to a user equipment (UE) via the transceiver, a radio resource control (RRC) message comprising a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) configuration for a PDCP entity,
receive, from a base station (BS), a radio resource control (RRC) message comprising a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) configuration for a PDCP entity,
the PDCP entity configured for being associated with more than two Radio Link Control (RLC) entities for Combine-Duplication,
the PDCP entity configured for being associated with more than two Radio Link Control (RLC) entities for Combine-Duplication,
the Combine-Duplication comprising a combination of Carrier Aggregation Duplication (CA-Duplication) and Dual Connectivity Duplication (DC-Duplication) for the PDCP entity,
a combination of Carrier Aggregation Duplication (CA-Duplication) and Dual Connectivity Duplication (DC-Duplication) for the PDCP entity,
wherein at least two RLC entities among the more than two RLC entities are associated with one of a master MAC entity (M-MAC) for a Master Cell Group (MCG) and a secondary MAC entity (S-MAC) for a Secondary Cell Group (SCG); and
wherein at least two RLC entities among the more than two RLC entities are associated with one of a master MAC entity (M-MAC) for a Master Cell Group (MCG) and a secondary MAC entity (S-MAC) for a Secondary Cell Group (SCG);
send, to the UE via the transceiver, activation of a PDCP Combine-Duplication.
receive, from the BS, activation of a PDCP Combine-Duplication;
activate the Combine-Duplication for the PDCP entity; and
submit a PDCP Protocol Data Unit (PDU) to a set of activated RLC bearers among a plurality of RLC bearers associated with the more than two RLC entities.
8
The BS of claim 7, wherein the RRC message is one of a RRC Reconfiguration message, a RRC Resume message, a RRC Reestablishment message, a RRC Setup message, and a downlink (DL) unicast RRC message.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the RRC message is one of a RRC Reconfiguration message, a RRC Resume message, a RRC Reestablishment message, a RRC Setup message, and a downlink (DL) unicast RRC message.
2
9
The BS of claim 7, wherein when sending the activation of the PDCP Combine- Duplication, the computer-executable instructions cause the BS to transmit one of RRC signaling and Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) to the UE.
The method of claim 1, wherein the PDCP Combine-Duplication is activated by one of RRC signaling and Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE).
3
10
The BS of claim 7, wherein each of a plurality of RLC bearers associated with a respective one of the more than two RLC entities is one of activated and deactivated, independently of others of the plurality of RLC bearers.
The UE of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of RLC bearers is one of activated and deactivated, independently of others of the plurality of RLC bearers.
4
11
The BS of claim 10, wherein the each of the plurality of RLC bearers is one of activated and deactivated dependent on the PDCP Combine-Duplication being activated.
The UE of claim 4, wherein the each of the plurality of RLC bearers is one of activated and deactivated done only when PDCP Combine-Duplication is activated.
5
12
The BS of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of RLC bearers is one of activated and deactivated by the BS.
The UE of claim 4, wherein the each of the plurality of RLC bearers is one of activated and deactivated by the BS.
6
As indicated above, the subject matter claimed in the instant application is fully disclosed in the conflicting Patent and is covered by the conflicting Patent. The instant application and the conflicting Patent are claiming common subject matter, and the difference in limitation(s) are merely differences in wording. Therefore, Claims 1-12 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness type double patenting in light of the conflicting Patent Claims 1-12.
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.
Claim(s) 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Wei (US 2020/0252330 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Wei teaches the below limitation(s):
A method for wireless communication performed by a base station (BS), the method comprising:
sending, to a user equipment (UE), a radio resource control (RRC) message comprising a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) configuration for a PDCP entity (Wei [0006] UE receives, from a base station through RRC signaling, a configuration for a PDCP entity, the configuration indicating an association between the PDCP entity and a plurality of RLC entities and comprises duplication configuration),
the PDCP entity configured for being associated with more than two Radio Link Control (RLC) entities for Combine-Duplication (Fig 1 PDCP 110 (PDCP entity) associated with primary RLC and secondary RLC (two or more RLC entities) associated with DC-Duplication and CA-Duplication; see also Fig 2),
the Combine-Duplication comprising a combination of Carrier Aggregation Duplication (CA-Duplication) and Dual Connectivity Duplication (DC-Duplication) for the PDCP entity (Fig 1 DC-Duplication 101 and CA-Duplication 102; Fig 2 and associated [0054] illustrates a PDCP duplication mechanism using a combined-duplication approach; [0052] rather than limiting the PDCP duplication mechanism to be either a CA-Duplication or a DC-Duplication, the frequency diversity and spatial diversity may be jointly utilized in a more flexible manner by combining the CA and DC mechanisms and [0053] combined-duplication mechanisms which combines CA and DC duplication mechanisms),
wherein at least two RLC entities among the more than two RLC entities are associated with one of a master MAC entity (M-MAC) for a Master Cell Group (MCG) and a secondary MAC entity (S-MAC) for a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) (Fig 1 wherein RLC entities 115 and 120 are respectively associated with M-MAC 125 and S-MAC 130); and
sending, to the UE, activation of a PDCP Combine-Duplication ([0059] teaches exemplary procedures including activation/deactivation of the PDCP duplication with the PDCP entity).
Regarding Claim 2, Wei teaches the limitation(s) of Claim 1.
Wei further teaches the below limitation(s):
wherein the RRC message is one of a RRC Reconfiguration message, a RRC Resume message, a RRC Reestablishment message, a RRC Setup message, and a downlink (DL) unicast RRC message (Wei [0055] downlink RRC message may include RRCReconfiguration, RRCResume, RRCReestablishment, RRCSetup, or any other downlink unicast RRC message that contain the required PDCP duplication configuration).
Regarding Claim 3, Wei teaches the limitation(s) of Claim 1.
Wei further teaches the below limitation(s):
wherein sending the activation of the PDCP Combine- Duplication comprises transmitting one of RRC signaling and Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) to the UE (Wei [0106] PDCP entity may submit the PDCP PDU to the RLC entities indicated by base station via downlink MAC control element (CE); see also Fig 6).
Regarding Claim 4, Wei teaches the limitation(s) of Claim 1.
Wei further teaches the below limitation(s):
wherein each of a plurality of RLC bearers associated with a respective one of the more than two RLC entities is one of activated and deactivated, independently of others of the plurality of RLC bearers (Wei [0051] RLC bearers may be configured as a primary path for the PDCP PDU transmission and the other as a secondary transmission path … configurations of the primary transmission path and the MCG/SCG may be independently made by a base station, which examiner is interpreting as independent configurations (i.e. activation) for each of the two RLC bearers configured as paths).
Regarding Claim 5, Wei teaches the limitation(s) of Claim 4.
Wei further teaches the below limitation(s):
wherein the each of the plurality of RLC bearers is one of activated and deactivated dependent on the PDCP Combine-Duplication being activated (Wei [0053] once a PDCP entity is configured with the combined-duplication, three or more RLC bearers may be configured to associate with the PDCP entity, which examiner is interpreting as activation of RLC bearers based on activation of PDCP combine-duplication).
Regarding Claim 6, Wei teaches the limitation(s) of Claim 4.
Wei further teaches the below limitation(s):
wherein each of the plurality of RLC bearers is one of activated and deactivated by the BS (Wei [0057] base station may configure RLC bearers to be associated with the PDCP entity).
Regarding Claim 7, Wei teaches the below limitation(s):
A base station (BS) comprising:
a transceiver; one or more non-transitory computer-readable media containing computer-executable instructions embodied therein; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver and the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media (Wei Fig 10 transceiver 120, processor 1026 and memory 1028), the at least one processor configured to execute the computer-executable instructions, and the computer-executable instructions causing the BS to:
transmit, to a user equipment (UE) via the transceiver, a radio resource control (RRC) message comprising a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) configuration for a PDCP entity ([0006] UE receives, from a base station through RRC signaling, a configuration for a PDCP entity, the configuration indicating an association between the PDCP entity and a plurality of RLC entities and comprises duplication configuration),
the PDCP entity configured for being associated with more than two Radio Link Control (RLC) entities for Combine-Duplication (Fig 1 PDCP 110 (PDCP entity) associated with primary RLC and secondary RLC (two or more RLC entities) associated with DC-Duplication and CA-Duplication; see also Fig 2),
the Combine-Duplication comprising a combination of Carrier Aggregation Duplication (CA-Duplication) and Dual Connectivity Duplication (DC-Duplication) for the PDCP entity (Fig 1 DC-Duplication 101 and CA-Duplication 102; Fig 2 and associated [0054] illustrates a PDCP duplication mechanism using a combined-duplication approach; [0052] rather than limiting the PDCP duplication mechanism to be either a CA-Duplication or a DC-Duplication, the frequency diversity and spatial diversity may be jointly utilized in a more flexible manner by combining the CA and DC mechanisms and [0053] combined-duplication mechanisms which combines CA and DC duplication mechanisms),
wherein at least two RLC entities among the more than two RLC entities are associated with one of a master MAC entity (M-MAC) for a Master Cell Group (MCG) and a secondary MAC entity (S-MAC) for a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) (Fig 1 wherein RLC entities 115 and 120 are respectively associated with M-MAC 125 and S-MAC 130); and
send, to the UE via the transceiver, activation of a PDCP Combine-Duplication ([0059] teaches exemplary procedures including activation/deactivation of the PDCP duplication with the PDCP entity).
Regarding Claim 8, Wei teaches the limitation(s) of Claim 7.
Wei further teaches the below limitation(s):
wherein the RRC message is one of a RRC Reconfiguration message, a RRC Resume message, a RRC Reestablishment message, a RRC Setup message, and a downlink (DL) unicast RRC message (Wei [0055] downlink RRC message may include RRCReconfiguration, RRCResume, RRCReestablishment, RRCSetup, or any other downlink unicast RRC message that contain the required PDCP duplication configuration).
Regarding Claim 9, Wei teaches the limitation(s) of Claim 7.
Wei further teaches the below limitation(s):
wherein sending the activation of the PDCP Combine- Duplication comprises transmitting one of RRC signaling and Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) to the UE (Wei [0106] PDCP entity may submit the PDCP PDU to the RLC entities indicated by base station via downlink MAC control element (CE); see also Fig 6).
Regarding Claim 10, Wei teaches the limitation(s) of Claim 7.
Wei further teaches the below limitation(s):
wherein each of a plurality of RLC bearers associated with a respective one of the more than two RLC entities is one of activated and deactivated, independently of others of the plurality of RLC bearers (Wei [0051] RLC bearers may be configured as a primary path for the PDCP PDU transmission and the other as a secondary transmission path … configurations of the primary transmission path and the MCG/SCG may be independently made by a base station, which examiner is interpreting as independent configurations (i.e. activation) for each of the two RLC bearers configured as paths).
Regarding Claim 11, Wei teaches the limitation(s) of Claim 10.
Wei further teaches the below limitation(s):
wherein the each of the plurality of RLC bearers is one of activated and deactivated dependent on the PDCP Combine-Duplication being activated (Wei [0053] once a PDCP entity is configured with the combined-duplication, three or more RLC bearers may be configured to associate with the PDCP entity, which examiner is interpreting as activation of RLC bearers based on activation of PDCP combine-duplication).
Regarding Claim 12, Wei teaches the limitation(s) of Claim 10.
Wei further teaches the below limitation(s):
wherein each of the plurality of RLC bearers is one of activated and deactivated by the BS (Wei [0057] base station may configure RLC bearers to be associated with the PDCP entity).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHAWN D MILLER whose telephone number is (571)272-8599. The examiner can normally be reached M-TR 8-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles C Jiang can be reached at (571) 270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHAWN D MILLER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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