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- 3-7, 18, 20, 23-27, and 29-34 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liao (US 20210075631) and in view of Manion et al. (hereinafter, “Manion”, US 20230103760).
As per claims 1 and 20, Liao disclosed a method, comprising the steps of dynamically configurations an ad hoc group of user equipment (see at least abstract), the ad hoc group of user equipment comprising one or more user equipment (see 0043. 0055, 0081-0083, 0088-0089).
Liao disclosed such variations of configurations of ad hoc group but not explicitly such teaching of determining and creating an ad hoc group by a node. However, Manion disclosed such claimed limitation of determining and creating an ad hoc group by a node (see col. 2/ ln. 62-col. 3/ln. 6). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention for Liao to form such groups, as taught by Manion, to easily track group members.
The improve communication method of tracking ad hoc group of Liao and Manion further disclose wherein the node comprises an application function configured to interact with a 5th generation core network 5GC of a 5ᵗʰ generation system 5GS via a network exposure function of the 5GC (see Liao, at least abstract) or a session management function of the 5GC (see Liao, at least abstract & 0029, fig. 2-9); and creating, by the node, the ad hoc group of user equipment, wherein the creating comprises generating group information for the ad hoc group of user equipment (see Manion, see col. 2/ ln. 62-col. 3/ln. 6), and wherein the group information for the ad hoc of user equipment comprises an external ad hoc group identifier that identifies the ad hoc group of user equipment (see at least 0057-0060); and information indicative of a lifetime of the ad hoc group of user equipment (see Manion, col. 10/ln. 16-20 and col. 11/ln. 60-col. 12/ln. 16); and sending, to a user data storage entity, a request to store the group information for the ad hoc group of user equipment, the request comprising the group information for the ad hoc group of user equipment for storage at the user data storage entity (see Liao, fig. 11, 0078, 086, 0146 and throughout the reference).
As per claims 3 and 23, The improve communication method of tracking ad hoc group of Liao and Manion further disclose at least one of a group type indicating a type of the ad hoc group of user equipment (see Liao, at least 0056-0062; see Manion, at least col. 2/ln. 17-col. 3/ln. 18); identities of the one or more user equipment comprised in the ad hoc group (see Liao, at least 0056-0062; see Manion, at least col. 2/ln. 17-col. 3/ln. 18); information indicative of a property or an application or use case related to the one or more user equipment (see Liao, at least 0056-0062; see Manion, at least col. 2/ln. 17-col. 3/ln. 18); or an indication of which of the one or more user equipment of the dynamic group members of the ad hoc group are members of a pre-defined or subscribed group (see Liao, at least 0056-0062; see Manion, at least col. 2/ln. 17-col. 3/ln. 18).
As per claims 4 and 24, The improve communication method of tracking ad hoc group of Liao and Manion further disclose at least one of a tracking area identifier, a cell identifier, location coordinates the one or more user equipment comprised in the ad hoc group of user equipment (see Liao, 0021-0022, 0043, 0059-0060, and throughout the reference; see Manion, 0013, 0078, 0107 TABLE 0003); an indication of which user equipment of the one or more user equipment have the joined a certain multicast content; an indication of time synchronization service area for a given time domain serving area; an indication of which user equipment of the one or more user equipment are served by an entity comprising an application running thereon; or an indication of a user plane node serving the one or more user equipment comprised in the ad hoc group of user equipment (see Liao, at least 0056-0062; see Manion, at least col. 2/ln. 17-col. 3/ln. 18).
As per claims 5 and 25, The improve communication method of tracking ad hoc group of Liao and Manion further disclose the determining comprises identifying the one or more user equipment to be included in the ad hoc group for a specific use case or application (see Liao, at least 0056-0062; see Manion, at least col. 2/ln. 17-col. 3/ln. 18).
As per claims 6 and 26, The improve communication method of tracking ad hoc group of Liao and Manion further disclose updating or deleting the group information when a change to the ad hoc group occurs (see Liao, 0149).
As per claims 7 and 27, The improve communication method of tracking ad hoc group of Liao and Manion further disclose receiving a request to subscribe to notifications specific to the ad hoc group, wherein the request includes the ad hoc group identifier (see Liao, abstract, 0058 and throughout the reference).
As per claim 18, The improve communication method of tracking ad hoc group of Liao and Manion further disclose at least one processor (see at least Liao, fig. 11); and at least one memory (see at least Liao, fig. 11).
As per claims 29 and 30, The improve communication method of tracking ad hoc group of Liao and Manion further disclose the information indicative of a lifetime of the ad hoc group comprises information indicative of a time duration of the ad hoc group (see Manion, col. 10/ln. 16-20 and col. 11/ln. 60-col. 12/ln. 16).
As per claim 31, The improve communication method of tracking ad hoc group of Liao and Manion further disclose the one or more user equipment comprised in the ad-hoc group are user equipment that are participating in a multi-user game (see Manion, col. 1/ln. 15-18).
As per claim 32, The improve communication method of tracking ad hoc group of Liao and Manion further disclose the ad hoc group of user equipment is for time synchronization (see Manion, col. 10/ln. 16-20 and col. 11/ln. 60-col. 12/ln. 16).
As per claim 33, The improve communication method of tracking ad hoc group of Liao and Manion further disclose the one or more user equipment comprised in the ad-hoc group are user equipment that are part of a vehicle platoon (see Liao, 0017, 0019, 0113).
As per claim 34, The improve communication method of tracking ad hoc group of Liao and Manion further disclose the determining is based on a criteria, wherein the criteria comprise the one or more user equipment are anchored at a same protocol data unit session anchor user plane function (PSA-UPF) of the 5GC network or the one or more user equipment are running applications on a same edge application server (EAS) of the 5G system (see Liao, 0062, 0114, 0144), 0207).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to claims 1, 18, and 20 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Pablo Tran whose telephone number is (571)272-7898. The examiner normal hours are 9:30 -5:00 (Monday-Friday). If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Jinsong Hu, can be reached at (571)272-3965. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571)273-8300.
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February 12, 2026
PABLO N TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643