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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 6-7, 21-23, 26-30 and 33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li [US 2022/0225448] in view of Dao [US 2019/0261260].
As claims 1 and 21, Li discloses an apparatus and method comprising perform a discovery process to identify user equipment (UE) that is in proximity to the processor circuitry [Fig 1E, Fig 7, Ref S703, Fig 10-11, Par. 0100-0102, 0160-0164 discloses discover procedure between the UEs such as a platoon, relay, leader and its members]; generating a non-access stratum (NAS) request to associate with the UE in a group to facilitate communications to a radio access network, the NAS request to include an identifier of the UE [Fig 13, Ref S1302 discloses generating a NAS request to associated with the UE in a group for exchanging communication with network via platoon, relay, leader of the group wherein NAS includes UE ID, Par. 0129]; and outputting the NAS request for transmission to an entity of a core network for enabling communication [Fig 13, Ref S1302 discloses transmitting the NAS request to AMF which handles registration management and mobility management as control plane]. However, Li fails to disclose generate a non-access stratum (NAS) request for a control-plane only association with the UE in a group to facilitate a radio access network (RAN) management operation, wherein the NAS request includes an identifier of the UE and the RAN management operation includes configuring a subset of UEs of the group for measurements on behalf of all the UEs of the group, handing over all UEs of the group together, or coordinating handovers of UEs of the group to ensure uninterrupted service for the group. In the same field of endeavor, Dao [US 2019/0261260] discloses generate a non-access stratum (NAS) request for a control-plane only association with the UE in a group to facilitate a radio access network (RAN) management operation [Par. 0055, 0089 discloses UE send a request to AMF “control function” to request AMF to perform control function for group of UEs, Par. 0065, 0085], wherein the NAS request includes an identifier of the UE and the RAN management operation [Par. 0085, 0089, 0091 discloses NAS request includes UE ID and RAN management operation such as handover] includes configuring a subset of UEs of the group for measurements on behalf of all the UEs of the group, handing over all UEs of the group together, or coordinating handovers of UEs of the group to ensure uninterrupted service for the group [Par. 0142 discloses platoon leader is implicitly measured the signal to initiate a handover, handover the ues in the group together or coordinating handover of a group without interruption].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply a method and system for generating a non-access stratum (NAS) request for a control-plane only association with the UE in a group to facilitate a radio access network (RAN) management operation, wherein the NAS request includes an identifier of the UE and the RAN management operation includes configuring a subset of UEs of the group for measurements on behalf of all the UEs of the group, handing over all UEs of the group together, or coordinating handovers of UEs of the group to ensure uninterrupted service for the group as disclosed by Dao into the teaching of Li. The motivation would have been to reduce latency.
As claim 28, Li discloses an apparatus comprising: processor circuitry to: identify a user equipment (UE) that is in proximity to the apparatus [Fig 1E, Fig 7, Ref S703, Fig 10-11, Par. 0100-0102, 0160-0164 discloses discover procedure between the UEs such as a platoon, relay, leader and its members]; generate a non-access stratum (NAS) request association with the UE in a group to facilitate a radio access network (RAN) management operation,[Fig 13, Ref S1302 discloses generating a NAS request to associated with the UE in a group]; and output the NAS request for transmission to a core network [Fig 13, Ref S1302 discloses transmitting the NAS request to AMF “control entity”]; and interface circuitry coupled with the processor circuitry to enable communication [Par. 0049-0050, 0054, 0064-0065 discloses discover procedure between the UEs such as a platoon, relay, leader and its members wherein platoon, relay, leader exchanges communication with its slaves and network, Fig 1E and Fig 7]. However, Li fails to disclose generate a non-access stratum (NAS) request for a control-plane only association with the UE in a group to facilitate a radio access network (RAN) management operation, wherein the NAS request includes an identifier of the UE and the RAN management operation includes configuring a subset of UEs of the group for measurements on behalf of all the UEs of the group, handing over all UEs of the group together, or coordinating handovers of UEs of the group to ensure uninterrupted service for the group. In the same field of endeavor, Dao [US 2019/0261260] discloses generate a non-access stratum (NAS) request for a control-plane only association with the UE in a group to facilitate a radio access network (RAN) management operation [Par. 0055, 0089 discloses UE send a request to AMF “control function” to request AMF to perform control function for group of UEs, Par. 0065, 0085], wherein the NAS request includes an identifier of the UE and the RAN management operation [Par. 0085, 0089, 0091 discloses NAS request includes UE ID and RAN management operation such as handover] includes configuring a subset of UEs of the group for measurements on behalf of all the UEs of the group, handing over all UEs of the group together, or coordinating handovers of UEs of the group to ensure uninterrupted service for the group [Par. 0142 discloses platoon leader is implicitly measured the signal to initiate a handover, handover the ues in the group together or coordinating handover of a group without interruption].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply a method and system for generating a non-access stratum (NAS) request for a control-plane only association with the UE in a group to facilitate a radio access network (RAN) management operation, wherein the NAS request includes an identifier of the UE and the RAN management operation includes configuring a subset of UEs of the group for measurements on behalf of all the UEs of the group, handing over all UEs of the group together, or coordinating handovers of UEs of the group to ensure uninterrupted service for the group as disclosed by Dao into the teaching of Li. The motivation would have been to reduce latency.
As claims 2, 22 and 29, Li discloses entity is an access and mobility management function (AMF) [Par. 0095, 0099 and Fig 2 discloses transmitting the NAS request to AMF].
As claims 3, 23 and 30, Li discloses the NAS message is a NAS registration request [Fig 13, S1302, Fig 14, S1402, Par. 0129, 0348].
As claims 6, 26 and 33, Li discloses obtaining a group identifier of the group [Fig 13, S1302, obtaining Chain ID]; and generating the request to include the group identifier [Fig 13, S1302, Chain ID which includes in the request].
As claims 7 and 27, Li implicitly discloses obtaining the group identifier from a subscriber identity module [Fig 13, S1302, Chain ID from SIM].
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN HIEU D NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-3159. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5.
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/STEVEN HIEU D NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414