US 10292138

Here is a concise summary of US Patent 10,292,138:

US Patent 10,292,138 Summary

• Title: Determining buffer occupancy and selecting data for transmission on a radio bearer
• Assignee: Intellectual Ventures II LLC [cite: Current Assignee]
• Inventor: Timothy J. Speight [cite: Inventor]
• Filing Date: June 9, 2017, for application number US15/618,669 [cite: Filing date]
• Issue Date: May 14, 2019 [cite: Publication date, Application granted]
• Abstract: A user equipment (UE) determines and transmits to a network buffer occupancy for one or more radio bearers. The UE then selects data for transmission from these radio bearers using a single received allocation of uplink resources. This data selection process occurs in two iterations: a first iteration where data is selected from a subset of radio bearers based on received parameters, and a second iteration where selection is based on buffered data for respective radio bearers. The UE then transmits a signal including the selected data. [cite: Abstract]

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims:

• Independent Claim 1 (User Equipment - UE):
  This claim describes a User Equipment (UE) with a processor, a transmitter, and receiving circuitry. The UE is configured to perform several steps:

  1. Receive specific parameters related to multiple radio bearers.
  2. Determine how full its buffers are for each of these radio bearers.
  3. Send a message to the network communicating these buffer occupancies.
  4. Receive a single instruction from the network for how much uplink transmission capacity it has been allocated.
  5. Select data from its various radio bearers for transmission, using this single allocation. This selection involves two stages:
     • In the first stage (iteration), data is chosen from a particular group (subset) of radio bearers based on the parameters the UE initially received.
     • In the second stage (iteration), the selection of data considers the actual amount of data waiting in the buffers for each respective radio bearer.
  6. Transmit the selected data.

• Independent Claim 8 (Method performed by a UE):
  This claim outlines a method executed by a User Equipment (UE) that largely mirrors the functionality of Claim 1. The method involves:

  1. Receiving parameters for multiple radio bearers.
  2. Using a processor to determine buffer occupancies for these radio bearers.
  3. Using a transmitter to send a message to the network detailing these buffer occupancies.
  4. Receiving a single allocation of uplink resources.
  5. Using the processor to select data from the radio bearers for transmission based on this single allocation, employing a two-iteration process:
     • The first iteration involves selecting data from a subset of radio bearers based on the received parameters.
     • The second iteration involves selecting data based on the buffered data for the individual radio bearers.
  6. Using the transmitter to send a signal containing the selected data.

Litigation Status:

The patent US10292138 is listed as having expired as of May 8, 2026. [cite: Anticipated expiration, Status]
While the patent family has a history of litigation in various US District Courts (e.g., Texas Western, Texas Northern, New Jersey, Texas Eastern) and PTAB proceedings (IPR2023-00020, IPR2025-00343, IPR2022-01127) [cite: Family has litigation], the provided information does not indicate any active dockets specifically in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) for the year 2026.

I have searched for litigation involving US patent 10292138. Here's what I found:

Litigation Involving US10292138:

Unified Patents' portal shows the following litigation cases related to US10292138:

• Jurisdiction: Texas Western District Court
  • Case Number: 1:24-cv-00390
  • Status: Litigation
• Jurisdiction: Texas Northern District Court
  • Case Number: 3:22-cv-00761
  • Status: Litigation
• Jurisdiction: Texas Western District Court
  • Case Number: 6:24-cv-00188
  • Status: Litigation
• Jurisdiction: New Jersey District Court
  • Case Number: 2:24-cv-09298
  • Status: Litigation
• Jurisdiction: New Jersey District Court
  • Case Number: 3:24-cv-09298
  • Status: Litigation
• Jurisdiction: Texas Western District Court
  • Case Number: 6:21-cv-01088
  • Status: Litigation
• Jurisdiction: Texas Western District Court
  • Case Number: 6:23-cv-00429
  • Status: Litigation
• Jurisdiction: Texas Eastern District Court
  • Case Number: 2:21-cv-00390
  • Status: Litigation
• Jurisdiction: Texas Eastern District Court
  • Case Number: 2:21-cv-00389
  • Status: Litigation

PTAB Cases:

• Case Number: IPR2023-00020
  • Status: Settlement
• Case Number: IPR2025-00343
  • Status: Pending - Instituted
• Case Number: IPR2022-01127
  • Status: Settlement

The patent information on Google Patents also indicates that the "Family has litigation" and points to the Unified Patents litigation portal for details.

Specific plaintiffs, defendants, and filing dates for each district court case are not immediately available from the provided search snippets, which primarily list the case numbers, jurisdictions, and general status. To obtain those details, a deeper dive into each specific court's docket (e.g., via PACER for US District Courts or the PTAB's own portal for IPRs) would be necessary.

Proceedings overview

Two PTAB proceedings are on file for US patent 10292138: IPR2023-00020, which was terminated by settlement, and IPR2025-00343, which is currently pending (Instituted).

IPR2023-00020 — {Petitioner} v. {Patent Owner}

• Type: Inter Partes Review
• Filed: I do not have the filing date for IPR2023-00020.
• Status: Settlement
• Judge panel: I do not have the judge panel information for IPR2023-00020.
• Petition grounds: I do not have the petition grounds for IPR2023-00020.
• Institution decision: I do not have the institution decision for IPR2023-00020.
• Final Written Decision (if issued): Not applicable, as the proceeding was terminated by settlement.
• Settlement / termination: The proceeding was settled, as indicated by its status. The date and terms of the settlement are not publicly available in this record.
• Appeal: I do not have information about an appeal for IPR2023-00020.
• Defensive value: This proceeding indicates that a petitioner challenged the patent and subsequently settled, suggesting a potential willingness of the patent owner to negotiate. The specific impact on claim validity is unknown due to the settlement.

IPR2025-00343 — {Petitioner} v. {Patent Owner}

• Type: Inter Partes Review
• Filed: I do not have the filing date for IPR2025-00343.
• Status: Pending - Instituted
• Judge panel: I do not have the judge panel information for IPR2025-00343.
• Petition grounds: I do not have the petition grounds for IPR2025-00343.
• Institution decision: Instituted. I do not have the date of institution or the panel's reasoning.
• Final Written Decision (if issued): Not yet issued, as the proceeding is pending.
• Settlement / termination: Not applicable, as the proceeding is active.
• Appeal: Not applicable, as a Final Written Decision has not yet been issued.
• Defensive value: This active, instituted IPR signifies an ongoing challenge to the patent's validity. The outcome of this proceeding will be highly significant for any defendant facing assertion of this patent, as it could result in the invalidation of claims.

Strategic summary

The patent US10292138 currently has two PTAB proceedings on file. One IPR (IPR2023-00020) was settled, meaning its claims were challenged but the outcome regarding their validity was not determined by a Final Written Decision. The details of the settlement are confidential. The second IPR (IPR2025-00343) has been instituted and is currently pending, indicating that at least some claims of the patent are undergoing validity review by the PTAB.

Since no Final Written Decision has been issued for either IPR that details claim invalidation or patentability, the specific status of individual claims (CANCELED, SUSTAINED, or UNTESTED by PTAB FWD) is unknown. All claims cited in the pending IPR2025-00343 are currently contested and their validity remains to be determined. The settlement of IPR2023-00020 means that the claims at issue in that proceeding were not definitively ruled upon by the PTAB.

The estoppel landscape related to IPR2023-00020 is not fully clear without knowing the specific claims and grounds raised in the petition. For IPR2025-00343, any prior art grounds actually raised in the petition and instituted by the PTAB will likely be subject to estoppel under § 315(e)(2) for the petitioner and its privies once a Final Written Decision is issued. The presence of Unified Patents in the PTAB litigation data for both proceedings suggests a coordinated defensive effort against this patent family.

Recommended next steps

For IPR2025-00343, as it is instituted and pending, closely monitor its progress. The PTAB has a statutory one-year deadline from institution to issue a Final Written Decision. Knowing the institution date would allow for calculating the approximate FWD due date. The outcome of this proceeding will directly impact the patent's claims and thus the strength of any assertion.

Inventors

• Timothy J. Speight (Employer at time of filing not determinable from patent text)

Original assignee

Intellectual Ventures II LLC. The patent text does not indicate that Intellectual Ventures II LLC ships a product embodying the claims; their primary line of business is patent acquisition and licensing. Their current status is operating.

Assignment timeline

• 2018-07-03 (executed) / recorded 2018-07-03 — Reel 045339/0426

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES HOLDING 81 LLC
  • Assignee: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES II LLC
  • Correspondent: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES MANAGEMENT, LLC, 10737 GATEWAY BLVD, SUITE 210, CUPERTINO, CA 95014. This correspondent appears multiple times in this chain.
  • Context: Internal reorg

• 2018-10-10 (executed) / recorded 2018-10-10 — Reel 045761/0819

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: IPWIRELESS, INC.
  • Assignee: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES HOLDING 81 LLC
  • Correspondent: BLANK ROME LLP, 1800 I STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, DC 20006.
  • Context: Transfer to asserter

• 2018-10-10 (executed) / recorded 2018-10-10 — Reel 045761/0822

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: IPWIRELESS, INC.
  • Assignee: NORTHROP GRUMMAN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, INC.
  • Correspondent: BLANK ROME LLP, 1800 I STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, DC 20006. This correspondent appears multiple times in this chain.
  • Context: Transfer

• 2018-10-10 (executed) / recorded 2018-10-10 — Reel 045761/0825

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: NORTHROP GRUMMAN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, INC.
  • Assignee: IPWIRELESS, INC.
  • Correspondent: BLANK ROME LLP, 1800 I STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, DC 20006. This correspondent appears multiple times in this chain.
  • Context: Transfer

• 2018-10-10 (executed) / recorded 2018-10-10 — Reel 045761/0828

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES HOLDING 81 LLC
  • Assignee: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES II LLC
  • Correspondent: BLANK ROME LLP, 1800 I STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, DC 20006. This correspondent appears multiple times in this chain.
  • Context: Internal reorg

• 2018-10-10 (executed) / recorded 2018-10-10 — Reel 045761/0831

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: SPEIGHT, TIMOTHY J.
  • Assignee: IPWIRELESS, INC.
  • Correspondent: BLANK ROME LLP, 1800 I STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, DC 20006. This correspondent appears multiple times in this chain.
  • Context: Inventor assignment to original operating company

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10292138
    2006 : Filed by Intellectual Ventures II LLC
    2018 : Assigned to Intellectual Ventures II LLC
         : Assigned to Intellectual Ventures Holding 81 LLC
         : Assigned to Northrop Grumman
         : Assigned to IPWireless
         : Assigned to Intellectual Ventures II LLC
         : Inventor assigned to IPWireless
    2019 : Issued

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present. The patent has been assigned to Intellectual Ventures II LLC and Intellectual Ventures Holding 81 LLC. Both are known Intellectual Ventures entities, which operate as patent licensing and assertion companies, not product-shipping entities.
2. Known asserter in the chain — present. Intellectual Ventures II LLC and Intellectual Ventures Holding 81 LLC are explicitly in the chain. Intellectual Ventures is a well-known NPE.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. The correspondent "INTELLECTUAL VENTURES MANAGEMENT, LLC" appears on reel 045339/0426. The correspondent "BLANK ROME LLP" appears on reels 045761/0819, 045761/0822, 045761/0825, 045761/0828, and 045761/0831.
4. Cascading transfers — present. There are multiple assignments within a short period (all on 2018-10-10) involving IPWIRELESS, INC., NORTHROP GRUMMAN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, INC., INTELLECTUAL VENTURES HOLDING 81 LLC, and INTELLECTUAL VENTURES II LLC, and sharing the same correspondent (BLANK ROME LLP). This pattern indicates a series of transfers, likely internal to Intellectual Ventures' portfolio management.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. While there are multiple litigation cases associated with this patent family, the exact date of the first infringement suit directly naming US10292138 is not immediately available from the provided data to compare against the assignment dates. However, Google Patents shows multiple litigation events for the patent family, with the first worldwide family litigation filed prior to the 2018 assignments.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication in the provided information that any assignor in the chain filed for bankruptcy.
7. Privateering — unclear. While Intellectual Ventures is known for privateering, the provided assignment records do not contain specific details (e.g., SEC filings or explicit agreements) to confirm privateering for this particular patent.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain ends with Intellectual Ventures II LLC as the current assignee, which is an NPE, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The presence of Intellectual Ventures II LLC and Intellectual Ventures Holding 81 LLC in the assignment chain, along with the recurring correspondents (INTELLECTUAL VENTURES MANAGEMENT, LLC and BLANK ROME LLP) on multiple transfers within a short period (2018-07-03 and 2018-10-10), strongly indicates an NPE assertion pattern. The cascading transfers further support the conclusion that the patent is part of an NPE's portfolio management.

USPTO Assignment Center search page for verification: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/

For US Patent 10292138, "Determining buffer occupancy and selecting data for transmission on a radio bearer," filed on 2017-06-09 and granted on 2019-05-14, the earliest priority date is 2006-05-08. This analysis identifies prior art citations with priority dates predating 2006-05-08 that are most relevant to the claimed invention.

The independent claims (Claim 1 and Claim 8) of US10292138 describe a User Equipment (UE) configured to:

1. Receive parameters associated with a plurality of radio bearers.
2. Determine a plurality of buffer occupancies, each associated with one or more radio bearers.
3. Transmit a message including these buffer occupancies to a network.
4. Receive a single allocation of uplink resources.
5. Select data from the plurality of radio bearers for transmission using the single allocation, wherein this selection occurs using a first iteration and a second iteration:
   • First iteration: selection from a subset of radio bearers based on the received parameters.
   • Second iteration: selection based on buffered data for respective radio bearers.
6. Transmit a signal including the selected data.

The most relevant prior art documents anticipate aspects of determining and reporting buffer occupancy for multiple radio bearers and general QoS-aware scheduling. The distinguishing feature for US10292138 often lies in the specific UE-side two-iteration data selection process from a single uplink resource allocation.

Here are the most relevant prior art references, with their details and potential anticipation:

Most Relevant Prior Art for US10292138

1. US6845100B1

   • Full Citation: US6845100B1, "Basic QoS mechanisms for wireless transmission of IP traffic", assigned to Nokia Mobile Phones Ltd.
   • Publication/Filing Date: Filed: 2000-08-28, Granted: 2005-01-18.
   • Brief Description: This patent describes quality of service (QoS) mechanisms for wireless IP traffic, employing two separate schedulers. A packet scheduler allocates resources to users, and a QoS scheduler then prioritizes packets within a user's allocation based on the radio bearer to which they are assigned.
   • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent potentially anticipates the general concept of prioritizing data based on radio bearers and QoS (e.g., Claims 3, 4, 10, 11, referring to radio bearers, data/IP flows, and QoS/priority). US10292138 explicitly distinguishes itself from this prior art, noting that US6845100B1's prioritization is limited to within a user's allocation, whereas US10292138 aims for prioritization across multiple users and, crucially, through a specific UE-driven, two-iteration selection process. Therefore, while it lays groundwork for RB-based QoS, it does not disclose the specific UE-centric mechanism of US10292138's independent claims (Claims 1, 8) regarding reporting separate buffer occupancies for multiple RBs, receiving a single uplink allocation, and performing a two-iteration selection at the UE.

2. US20030117964A1

   • Full Citation: US20030117964A1, "Resource control system, resource control method, and base station and mobile station suitable for use in the same", assigned to Ntt Docomo, Inc.
   • Publication/Filing Date: Filed: 2001-12-21, Published: 2003-06-26.
   • Brief Description: This patent application describes a mobile station (UE) that reports its buffer status for a plurality of logical channels to a base station (network). The base station then determines and allocates radio resources to the mobile station based on these reported buffer statuses and other factors.
   • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent potentially anticipates the aspects of Claims 1 and 8 related to the UE "determining a plurality of buffer occupancies, wherein each of the plurality of buffer occupancies is associated with one or more radio bearers" (as logical channels are analogous to radio bearers for service differentiation) and "transmitting, by a transmitter of the UE, a message including the plurality of buffer occupancies to a network". It also generally relates to "receiving, by the UE, parameters associated with a plurality of radio bearers" and selecting data based on QoS or priority (Claims 4, 11). However, it does not explicitly disclose the UE receiving a single allocation of uplink resources and performing a two-iteration selection process based on received parameters and buffered data at the UE side as specifically claimed in US10292138.

3. US20050063392A1

   • Full Citation: US20050063392A1, "Packet-priority control apparatus and method thereof", assigned to Ntt Docomo, Inc.
   • Publication/Filing Date: Filed: 2003-09-04, Published: 2005-03-24.
   • Brief Description: This patent describes a packet-priority control system where a mobile station (UE) reports buffer information for different priority classes (which can correspond to distinct services or radio bearers) to a base station (network). The base station then performs scheduling decisions based on this reported information and predefined priority levels.
   • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent potentially anticipates the concepts of granular buffer occupancy reporting by the UE for different priority classes/services to the network, and the selection of data based on priority (Claims 1, 4, 8, 11). Similar to US20030117964A1, its primary focus is on the network's scheduling decision based on these reports, rather than the specific UE-side logic of receiving a single allocation and executing a two-iteration data selection process as defined in US10292138.

4. WO2006037492A1

   • Full Citation: WO2006037492A1, "Quality-of-service (qos)-aware scheduling for uplink transmission on dedicated channels", assigned to Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd.
   • Publication/Filing Date: Priority: 2004-10-01, Published: 2006-04-13.
   • Brief Description: This international patent application describes a mobile station (UE) providing buffer status information for different logical channels (data streams) to a base station (network) for uplink transmission. The base station then performs QoS-aware scheduling based on this information and QoS requirements.
   • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent strongly anticipates the aspects of Claims 1 and 8 related to the UE determining and transmitting "a plurality of buffer occupancies, wherein each of the plurality of buffer occupancies is associated with one or more radio bearers" (logical channels/data streams) for uplink. It also covers QoS considerations for data selection (Claims 4, 11). However, the abstract and summary do not clearly describe the UE's explicit reception of a single allocation for uplink and its internal two-iteration data selection process which combines both received parameters and buffered data.

5. US20060019671A1

   • Full Citation: US20060019671A1, "QoS differentiation for WCDMA services mapped onto an E-DCH channel", assigned to Svetlana Chemiakina.
   • Publication/Filing Date: Filed: 2004-07-02, Published: 2006-01-26.
   • Brief Description: This patent application discusses QoS differentiation for WCDMA services mapped onto an Enhanced Dedicated Channel (E-DCH), where different logical channels (representing bearers) have varying QoS. The UE sends buffer status reports to the network, and a scheduler allocates resources considering these reports and QoS.
   • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent also highly anticipates the concepts of the UE reporting buffer status for different logical channels/bearers (i.e., multiple radio bearers) to the network for uplink resource allocation, and using QoS for differentiation (Claims 1, 3, 4, 8, 10, 11). Similar to the other strong candidates, it focuses on the network's scheduling response to the UE's reports, rather than the specific UE's internal two-iteration selection process from a single allocation.

The obviousness of US patent 10292138 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 can be analyzed by combining the teachings of explicit and implicit prior art references mentioned within the patent itself. A person having ordinary skill in the art (POSA) in wireless communication systems would be motivated to combine these references to address known challenges in Quality of Service (QoS) differentiation and resource management.

The key aspects of claims 1-14 of US10292138 involve a User Equipment (UE) that:

1. Receives parameters for radio bearers (RBs).
2. Determines and transmits separate buffer occupancies for individual RBs to a network.
3. Receives a single allocation of uplink resources from the network.
4. Selects data from RBs for transmission using an iterative process involving a first iteration (selecting a subset of RBs based on received parameters) and a second iteration (selecting data based on buffered data for respective RBs).
5. Transmits the selected data.

Here, we consider the combination of the following prior art references:

• U.S. Pat. No. 6,845,100 (referred to as '100 patent): This patent is explicitly discussed in the background and summary of US10292138. It describes a system with two schedulers, a packet scheduler and a QoS scheduler, where the QoS scheduler prioritizes packets based on their assigned radio bearer. However, it is noted to prioritize only within a user's allocation.
• Hui Zhang, "Service discipline for guaranteed performance service in packet-switching networks" (1995): This is cited as an introduction to schedulers. It would teach general principles of packet scheduling, Quality of Service (QoS), and various service disciplines, including potentially weighted fair queuing or other mechanisms for allocating resources based on priority or weights.
• PCT publication WO 03/049320 (referred to as '320 publication): This publication is by the same applicant as US10292138 and is referenced in the description for specific steps within the iterative algorithm for limiting the number of queues. It describes how the process may operate normally when a queue limitation is not exceeded, and how the RAAUq'' (resource allocation units) may be modified. This indicates that the '320 publication teaches iterative resource allocation and queue management principles.
• General UMTS/3GPP standards (e.g., 3GPP TS 25.401, 3GPP TS 23.060): These are referenced for the typical architecture and operation of a UMTS network, including concepts like Radio Network Controllers (RNCs), Node-Bs, User Equipment (UEs), radio bearers (RBs), and Packet Data Protocol (PDP) contexts.

Obviousness Analysis

A POSA, aiming to enhance wireless communication systems to provide more flexible and efficient QoS differentiation for IP data flows, particularly across multiple users as opposed to merely within a single user's allocation, would have been motivated to combine the teachings of these references.

Motivation for Combining References:

1. Overcoming Limitations of '100 Patent (Cross-User Prioritization): The '100 patent teaches QoS prioritization based on radio bearers but is limited to a single user's allocation. A POSA would recognize the significant advantage of extending this to prioritize specific services (e.g., HTTP over FTP) across multiple users, a feature explicitly stated as a goal of the present invention. This motivation would drive the need for more granular information and control.
2. Granular Buffer Occupancy Reporting (UE to Network): To enable the network to perform cross-user prioritization on a per-radio bearer basis, it is evident that the network requires knowledge of the data buffered for each individual radio bearer at the UE. Thus, a POSA would be motivated to modify the UE (e.g., through its signal processor) to identify and transmit separate buffer occupancy for each radio bearer to the network. This is a logical extension of existing buffer status reporting mechanisms in wireless systems.
3. UE-Side Scheduling for Single Uplink Allocation: In an uplink scenario where the network provides a single physical allocation of resources to the UE, the UE must intelligently divide this allocation among its active radio bearers according to their QoS requirements. The principles of schedulers (Zhang) would suggest using weighted allocation. Therefore, a POSA would be motivated to signal network-defined weight values (S_tier parameters) to the UE. This allows the UE to mirror the network's scheduling logic, splitting the single allocation proportionally among its radio bearers and ensuring consistent QoS prioritization, rather than relying on a simpler, absolute priority scheme. The patent describes this as a "UE mirror scheduler".
4. Iterative Selection for Limiting Queues: As acknowledged by US10292138, a system with many services and users could lead to a large number of small resource allocations, increasing signaling overhead. To mitigate this, a POSA would be motivated to implement a mechanism to limit the number of queues/services allocated resources at any given time.
   • The '320 publication, being from the same applicant and explicitly referenced for parts of the iterative queue limiting algorithm (e.g., for RAAUq calculation and modification), would provide a POSA with a strong teaching or suggestion for employing iterative processes in resource allocation and queue management within a wireless network context.
   • Combining this with general knowledge of scheduling (Zhang), which often involves iterative refinement to balance different criteria (e.g., fairness, throughput, latency, number of active connections), a POSA would find it obvious to apply an iterative approach for selecting data.
   • Specifically, the "first iteration" of selecting a subset of RBs based on received parameters (S_tier via W'q and RAAUq') and ordering serves as an initial filtering step to manage the number of active queues. The "second iteration" of refining this selection based on actual buffered data (Nq' influencing W''q and RAAUq'') and incorporating running_RAAU_delta from previous allocations, ensures long-term fairness and responsiveness to actual data availability, even with short-term limitations. This iterative refinement is a common and obvious design choice for optimizing resource allocation under constraints.

Therefore, a POSA, motivated by the need for enhanced QoS differentiation across users and efficient resource management, would find it obvious to combine the teachings of the '100 patent (for RB-based QoS), general scheduling knowledge (Zhang), and iterative resource allocation techniques from the '320 publication (by the same applicant and referenced for specific algorithmic steps) to arrive at the claimed invention. The resulting system would allow granular buffer occupancy reporting, network-controlled but UE-executed weighted scheduling for uplink transmissions, and an iterative method for limiting active queues to optimize signaling and resource utilization.