Prior art

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.