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 .
Applicant’s RCE filed 8/19/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 1,18,25, and 29 are amended.
Claims 6,10-15,20, and 26 are withdrawn.
Claim 9 is cancelled.
Claims 1-8 and 10-30 are pending.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 8/19/2026 has been entered.
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) 1-3,5,8,16-19,22,25, and 28- 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qiao (US 20240267858) in view of Yang (US 20210014737).
Re claim 1:
Qiao discloses a method for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE), comprising (Fig. 24 ref. UE):
communicating, via a distributed unit, a first service message to establish a first transport radio bearer with a first transport service offered by a service-based network, the first service message indicating one or more attributes (Fig. 24 ref. UE and ref. RRC Request with Traceability Capability of UE (TCU), Requested Time KPIs (RTK), Requested Time Service (RTST) and ref. DU and Para.[0310] In an example, the configuration of the allowed time KPI may comprise parameter(s) for radio bearer configuration and Para.[0299] In an example, the one or more parameters comprised in the UE context setup/modification response message may be associated with the time service. For example, the DRB Setup List and/or SRB Setup List may be applied to the time service);
receiving, from the distributed unit in response to the first service message, a physical resource configuration for communications associated with the first transport service, and a mapping of the first transport radio bearer to a first channel between the UE and the distributed unit (Fig. 24 ref. RRS Response with NPTUI, STK, STST and Para.[0310] In an example, the configuration of the allowed time KPI may comprise parameter(s) for radio bearer configuration, parameter(s) for MAC configuration, parameter(s) for PDCP configuration, parameter(s) for RRC configuration, and/or parameter(s) for physical layer configuration and Para.[0108] The mapping between the QoS flows and the data radio bearers may be determined in the SDAP 772 by the gNB 702, and the UE 701 may be notified of the mapping (e.g., based on control signaling and/or reflective mapping and Para.[0109] In a dual connectivity scenario, PDCP 761 and PDCP 762 may perform mapping between a split radio bearer and RLC channels); and
communicating, via the distributed unit based at least in part on the physical resource configuration, the information to be transported via the first transport service (Fig. 24 ref. Network Provides Time Service).
Qiao does not explicitly disclose indicating one or more quality of service parameters, the one or more quality of service parameters comprising at least one of a latency target, a throughput target, or a security level.
Yang discloses indicating one or more quality of service parameters, the one or more quality of service parameters comprising at least one of a latency target, a throughput target, or a security level (Para.[0045] The exemplary process includes radio slice controller 130 receiving a DU profile from each available DU 110 (block 800-FIG. 8A). The DU profile is generated by each DU 110 based on the slice identifier (ID), the Quality of Service (QoS) Flow Identifier (QFI), and/or the Fifth Generation QoS ID (5QI) associated with its bearer(s). Each DU 110 may support one or more channels (i.e., bearers) for communicating wirelessly with UEs, and each channel of each DU 110 may be associated with a particular slice ID, a particular QFI, and/or a particular 5QI. For each bearer, the DU 110 determines one or more minimum performance requirements that need to be satisfied to support the particular slice ID, QFI, and/or 5QI of that bearer. For example, the DU 110 may determine a minimum bandwidth, a minimum throughput, a maximum latency, and/or a maximum bit error rate needed to support a particular slice ID, QFI, and/or 5QI associated with a certain DU bearer. As an example, a DU 110 may determine that a particular slice ID, or a particular QFI, of a bearer requires a maximum latency of 50 milliseconds. Upon determination of the network performance parameters for each bearer, the DU 110 generates a DU profile that includes the one or more network performance parameters needed to support the particular slice ID, QFI, and/or 5QI of the bearer(s), and provides the created DU profile to the radio slice controller 130 of the CU-CP 120. For example, if the DU 110 determines that a particular slice ID requires a maximum latency of 30 ms, then the DU 110 creates a DU profile that specifies the 30 ms maximum latency requirement and sends the DU profile to the radio slice controller 130).
Qiao and Yang are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Qiao to include quality of service parameters as taught by Yang in order to enable flexible routing of transport of traffic to satisfy different QoS requirements (Yang Para.[0016]).
Re claim 2:
Qiao discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: mapping one or more transport radio bearers to the first channel, each of the one or more transport radio bearers having an associated transport service (Para.[0109] In a dual connectivity scenario, PDCP 761 and PDCP 762 may perform mapping between a split radio bearer and RLC channels and Para.[0253] In an example, the supported time KPIs and/or supported time service type may be applicable to per bearer basis).
Re claim 3:
Qiao discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the information to be transported via the first transport service is split over two or more channels between the UE and the distributed unit, including a separate channel for signaling information (Para.[0246] For example, the SRB to Be Setup List, DRB to Be Setup List may be applied to the time service).
Re claim 5:
Qiao discloses the method of claim 1, wherein: two or more transport radio bearers from the first transport service are mapped to the first channel, one transport radio bearer is mapped to the first channel, or multiple transport radio bearers are mapped to each of two or more channels (Para.[0109] In a dual connectivity scenario, PDCP 761 and PDCP 762 may perform mapping between a split radio bearer and RLC channels and Para.[0253] In an example, the supported time KPIs and/or supported time service type may be applicable to per bearer basis).
Re claim 8:
Qiao discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the first transport radio bearer provides communications for both signaling information and data associated with the first transport service (Para.[0246] For example, the SRB to Be Setup List, DRB to Be Setup List may be applied to the time service).
Re claim 16:
As discussed above, Qiao in view of Yang meets all the limitations of the parent claim.
Qiao discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the distributed unit in response to an updated configuration associated with the first transport service, an updated physical resource configuration; and communicating, via the distributed unit based at least in part on the updated physical resource configuration, the information to be transported via the first transport service (Para.[0272] In an example, the node-level message may be a gNB-DU Configuration Update message and Para.[0279] In an example, the second node-level message may be a gNB-CU Configuration Update message).
As shown above, Qiao discloses updated configuration information. Qiao also discloses the DU sending the UE configuration information. Qiao does not explicitly state updated configuration information is sent to the UE; however, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention that updated configuration information is sent to the UE when the configuration information is updated in order to have the UE properly configured to transmit and receive information.
Re claim 17:
Qiao discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the first transport service is provided at a protocol layer associated with the first transport radio bearer, and wherein the protocol layer is an Internet protocol (IP) layer or a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer (Para.[0110] The RLCs 213 and 223 may provide RLC channels as a service to PDCPs 214 and 224, respectively).
Re claim 18: Claim 18 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 1 from the perspective of the DU.
Re claim 19: Claim 19 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 2.
Re claim 22: Claim 8 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 8.
Re claim 25: Claim 25 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 1 from the perspective of the CU.
Re claim 28: Claim 28 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 16.
Re claim 29: Claim 29 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 1. Qiao further discloses a processor; memory coupled with the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor (Fig. 13).
Re claim 30: Claim 30 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 2.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qiao (US 20240267858) in view of Yang (US 20210014737) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Vangala (US 20250393091).
Re claim 4:
As discussed above, Qiao in view of Yang meets all the limitations of the parent claims.
Qiao does not explicitly disclose the method of claim 3, wherein the split over the two or more channels is based at least in part on one or more of a traffic priority of the information to be transported via the first transport service, a traffic delay tolerance of the information to be transported via the first transport service, a traffic acceptable error rate of the information to be transported via the first transport service, or any combinations thereof.
Vangala discloses the method of claim 3, wherein the split over the two or more channels is based at least in part on one or more of a traffic priority of the information to be transported via the first transport service, a traffic delay tolerance of the information to be transported via the first transport service, a traffic acceptable error rate of the information to be transported via the first transport service, or any combinations thereof (Para.[0021] Multiple BH RLC channels can be configured on each BH link to allow traffic prioritization and quality of service (QOS) enforcement).
Qiao and Vangala are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Qiao to include a traffic prioritization as taught by Vangala in order to improve efficiency (Vangala Para.[0031]).
Claim(s) 7,21,24, and 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qiao (US 20240267858) in view of Yang (US 20210014737) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Lee (US 20240032127).
Re claim 7:
As discussed above, Qiao in view of Yang meets all the limitations of the parent claim.
Qiao discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the information to be transported via the first transport service is transmitted using a plurality of packets, and (Para.[0108] The UE 701 may receive services through a PDU session, which may be a logical connection between the UE 701 and a data network (DN). The UE 701 and the DN may exchange data packets associated with the PDU session).
Qiao does not explicitly disclose each packet of the plurality of packets include an indication of the first transport radio bearer.
Lee discloses each packet of the plurality of packets include an indication of the first transport radio bearer (Para.[0239] if each packet has a bearer ID, the indication for each route in the routing table can indicate which bearer IDs are allowed to perform routing only based on a part of routing information).
Qiao and Lee are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Qiao to include a bearer ID in a packet as taught by Lee in order to provide higher QoS to UEs stably (Lee Para.[0013]).
Re claim 21: Claim 21 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 7.
Re claim 24:
As discussed above, Qiao in view of Yang meets all the limitations of the parent claim.
Qiao discloses the method of claim 18, further comprising: communicating with the first transport service based at least in part on a communication protocol that provides (Para.[0108] The UE 701 may receive services through a PDU session, which may be a logical connection between the UE 701 and a data network (DN). The UE 701 and the DN may exchange data packets associated with the PDU session).
Qiao does not explicitly disclose an indication of the first transport radio bearer; an indication of traffic flow information associated with the first transport radio bearer.
Lee discloses an indication of the first transport radio bearer; an indication of the traffic flow information associated with the first transport radio bearer (Para.[0239] if each packet has a bearer ID, the indication for each route in the routing table can indicate which bearer IDs are allowed to perform routing only based on a part of routing information).
Qiao and Lee are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Qiao to include a bearer ID in a packet as taught by Lee in order to provide higher QoS to UEs stably (Lee Para.[0013]).
Re claim 27: Claim 27 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 7.
Claim(s) 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qiao (US 20240267858) in view of Yang (US 20210014737) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Dai (US 20190297634).
Re claim 23:
As discussed above, Qiao in view of Yang meets all the limitations of the parent claim.
Qiao does not explicitly disclose the method of claim 18, further comprising: aggregating the traffic flow information across the first transport service and one or more other transport services; and configuring one or more carriers and one or more resource grants of the physical resource configuration based at least in part on aggregated traffic flow information.
Dai discloses the method of claim 18, further comprising: aggregating the traffic flow information across the first transport service and one or more other transport services; and configuring one or more carriers and one or more resource grants of the physical resource configuration based at least in part on aggregated traffic flow information (Para.[0147] The following describes in detail the controlling, by the CU or the DU, corresponding data transmission based on the first parameter by using an example in which the first parameter includes an uplink PDU session aggregate maximum bit rate (AMBR) and a downlink PDU session AMBR and Para.[0122] The DU generates an uplink (UL) grant based on the UE-reported logical channel priority of the bearer and amount of the cached data and the QoS parameter corresponding to the bearer, and sends the uplink grant to the UE through a physical downlink control channel. The UE sends the uplink data based on the received uplink grant).
Qiao and Dai are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Qiao to include aggregating traffic as taught by Dai in order to improve scheduling (Dai Para.[0181]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1,18,25, and 29 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMAD SAJID ADHAMI whose telephone number is (571)272-8615. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30-5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy Kundu can be reached at (571) 272-8586. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MOHAMMAD S ADHAMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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