DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
Claims 1-10 and 12 are pending in this application. 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 statement (IDS) submitted on 10/15/2025 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 § 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 1-10 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being Unpatentable over Xu (US 2025/0386240) and in view of Kim (US 2018/0368167) and in view of Wang (US 2020/0120660).
Re Claim 1, Xu discloses a method comprising: upon receiving a first data unit from an upper layer, ([0310], UE receives a PDU based on being able to set a discard timer upon the first or last reception of a PDU belonging to a PDU set from upper layer. [0077], PDU sets received from an upper layer. ) starting, by a user equipment (UE) a discard timer related to the first data unit ([0310], the UE set a discard timer corresponding to a PDU set and start the timer upon first or last reception of a PDU);
based on a remaining time of the discard timer related to the first data unit being lower than a threshold ([0112]-[0123], enabling transmission of the report relies on trigger threshold associated with the trigger condition. The threshold includes length of a PDU set discard timer) , triggering, by the UE, a first type buffer status report (BSR) to report an amount of the first data unit ( [0130], [0165], UE may trigger the report based on a trigger condition. The type of report can be a regular or periodic BSR);
generating, by the UE, a medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) based on the uplink grant ( [0071]-[0072], arrival of the PDU set, and arrival of a UL grant of a MAC layer. [0333]-[0334], UE receives a PDU set and notifies a MAC entity of the UE that the PDU set arrived. PDU set in a MAC PDU);
based on the MAC PDU being able to include the first data unit (xu, [0150], [0165], MAC PDU including the reports are set within the PDU set. MAC control element of a type of report (regular BSR or periodic BSR),
transmitting, by the UE, the MAC PDU to the network ([0333]-[0334], UE receives a PDU set and notifies a MAC entity of the UE that the PDU set arrived. PDU set in a MAC PDU).
While Xu discloses logical channel group, Xu does not disclose, however Kim discloses belong to a logical channel group (LCG) ([0210], the transmitted data belongs to a logical channel group from an upper layer); and
triggering, by the UE a second type BSR to report pending data unit available for transmission and including the second type BSR (Kim [0246], second type periodic BSR is triggered) and the first data unit in the MAC PDU, wherein the triggered first type BSR is canceled BSR (Kim [0221], SR (status report) triggering may be canceled before the SR is retransmitted. The SR to be transmitted on the first SR resource, the SR may be canceled when a MAC PDU reporting the latest buffer status report is generated).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have modified the teachings of Xu’s status report with a PDU set with Kim’s status report to include MAC PD. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings with one another in order to improve the communication system by configuring a flow-based QoS system.
While Xu discloses receiving the PDU sets transmitted on 1st UL grant, Xu and Kim do not disclose, however Wang discloses receiving, by the UE from a network, an first uplink grant ([0124], the terminal receives uplink resource by using an uplink grant).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have modified the teachings of Xu and Kim’s communication method with Wang’s communication method to include uplink grant. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings with one another in order to send uplink resources to indicate a modulation for sending the uplink data by the terminal to the base station.
Re claim 2, Xu discloses wherein triggering the second type BSR comprises:
based on the MAC PDU being able to include the first data unit and based on the MAC PDU not being able to include a second data unit of which remaining time is equal to or greater than the threshold unit (xu, [0150], [0165], MAC PDU including the reports are set within the PDU set. MAC control element of a type of report (regular BSR or periodic BSR). One of ordinary level of skill in the art would have been compelled to make the proposed modification to Xu for the same reasons identified in the rejection of claim 1. In addition, Kim discloses triggering the second type BSR ([0246], second type periodic BSR is triggered).
Re claim 3, Xu discloses based on the MAC PDU not being able to include the first data unit, including the first type BSR in the MAC PDU unit (xu, [0150], [0165], MAC PDU including the reports are set within the PDU set. MAC control element of a type of report (regular BSR or periodic BSR.
Re claim 4, One of ordinary level of skill in the art would have been compelled to make the proposed modification to Xu for the same reasons identified in the rejection of claim 1. In addition, Kim discloses based on the MAC PDU including the second type BSR being transmitted, receiving a second uplink grant ([0221], The SR to be transmitted on the second SR resource, an uplink resource for a specific configured logical channel is allocated (e.g., when uplink resource grant is received); and
transmitting the second data unit based on the second uplink grant Kim ([0221], The SR to be transmitted on the second SR resource, an uplink resource for a specific configured logical channel is allocated (e.g., when uplink resource grant is received).
Re claim 5, Xu discloses wherein the discard timer related to the first data unit and a discard timer of the second data unit are configured separately (Xu [0310] A network configures the discard timer to a UE, and the UE may use an information element (IE) of “a discard timer”. The PDCP entity of the UE may set a discard timer corresponding to a PDU set and start the timer upon first or last reception of a PDU belonging to the PDU set from an upper layer of the UE.) , and the threshold is configured for both the first data unit and the second data unit commonly ([0225], the PDU set discard time can be configured as a default value).
Re claims 6-10 and 12, they are similar to claims 1-5 and therefore are rejected for the same reasons above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HO T SHIU whose telephone number is (571)270-3810. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri (9:00am - 5:00pm).
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/HO T SHIU/Examiner, Art Unit 2443
HO T. SHIU
Examiner
Art Unit 2443
/CHRISTOPHER B ROBINSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2443
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