DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office Action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 10/20/2025 and 09/25/2025 has been entered and made of record.
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 Status
Claims 1-3, 6-7, 12-15 and 18-19 are amended.
No new claim is/are added.
Claims 1-20 are pending for examination.
Applicant Argument
Applicant’s arguments (remark pages 9-10), filed on 09/25/2025, with respect to claims 1-20 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground of rejection below which better address the claimed invention as amended.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-4, 7-9, 12-16 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Duan et al. (US 20230199436 A1), hereinafter “Duan”, in view of Ali et al. (US 20170244158 A1), hereinafter “Ali”.
Per claim 1, 12 and 13:
Regarding claim 13, Duan teaches ‘A communication apparatus for a multicast and broadcast service(MBS)’ (Duan: [FIG.5]: “CP (MBS AS)”; [FIG.7]: “Apparatus for determining a delivery mode”; [Abstract]: “multicast broadcast service (MBS)”); ‘comprising: processing circuitry configured to:’ (Duan: [FIG.9]; [0432]: “various circuits of one or more processors”);
‘determine, by an application function entity of a wireless network, a transmission policy of MBS application assistance information according to a communication negotiation of the MBS between the application function entity and a core network element of the wireless network’ (Duan: [FIG.8]: “Apparatus for determining a delivery mode”, processing circuity of apparatus may determine a MBS transmission policy; [FIG.2]: S201: “Determining MBS assistance information”; [0235]-[0237]: “determining, by the CN function or the OAM platform, the MBS assistance information based on one or more of the following parameters … MBS policy”; [0052]-[0053]: “the determining the MBS assistance information according to the analytics information, includes: in case that the CN function is an AF, updating, by the AF, MBS service parameters according to the analytics information, and sending the updated MBS service parameters to a policy control function (PCF)”; [FIG.4]: “AF” <-> “PCF”, by AF and between AF and PCF (a core network element));
‘wherein the transmission policy indicates which of a plurality of metrics are to be included in the MBS application assistance information’ (Duan: [0041]-[0073]: “determining the MBS assistance information … service experience … network performance … user data congestion … quality of service (QoS) sustainability … network function (NF) load … information of a delivery mode of specified service … UE subscription data related to MBS service …UE capability information for delivery mode … AN performance information”);
‘obtain, by the application function entity, service statistics data of a terminal device that processes the MBS through an out-of-band communication path and in accordance with the transmission policy’ (Duan: [0038]: “information sent by the UE to the CN function through non-access stratum (NAS) signaling”; [0043]: “the CN function is an application function (AF)”; [0282]: “statistics are made on UEs that receive the MBS service”; [FIG.4]: S1 to S3, [0278]-[0286]: obtain service statistics data according to a transmission policy; [FIG.4]: S4: “AF updates the MBS service parameters based on the analytics information”). However, Duan fails to expressly teach an out-of-band communication path;
‘generating the MBS application assistance information based on the service statistics data’ (Duan: [0034]-[0038]: “the MBS assistance information based on one or more of the following parameters: analytics information of network data; MBS policy; UE subscription data related to MBS services; or information sent by the UE to the CN function through non-access stratum (NAS) signaling”; [0282]: “statistics are made on UEs that receive the MBS service”; generate MBS assistance information based on service statistics data of a UE that processes the MBS);
‘transmit, via the application function entity, the MBS application assistance information to the core network element’ (Duan: [FIG.4]: S4: “AF updates the MBS service parameters based on the analytics information and sends the updated MBS service parameters to the PCF”);
‘the core network element being configured to perform resource configuration processing of the MBS according to the MBS application assistance information’ (Duan: [FIG.4]: S5: “PCF updates the MBS policy based on the analytics information”, S6: “SMF determine the MBS assistance information”).
However, Ali in the same field of endeavor teaches MBS may include out-of-band control channels as alternate way for communications between mobile device and servers (Ali: [0044]: “the MBS may include out-of-band control channels (OOBCCs) to allow access to an MBS remotely from anywhere”; [Claim 15]: “a wireless local area network interface configured to provide out-of-band communications”; [0130]: “The OOBCCs 104 provide alternate ways to communicate with a remote server or service”; [0144]: “The remote servers 108 may include any number of server computers operable to communicate with the mobile device 114 via the MBS 10 (or OOBCCs)”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Ali’s teaching with that of Duan for AF to obtain service statistics data of a terminal device that processes the MBS through an out-of-band communication path in order to support alternate ways for communications between mobile device and servers (see reference quote in element above).
Regarding claim 1, claim 1 recites the communication method implemented by the communication apparatus according to claim 13 (discussed above).
Regarding claim 12, Duan teaches ‘A communication method for a multicast and broadcast service (MBS)’ (Duan: [Abstract]: “The method … receiving multicast broadcast service (MBS)”);
‘receiving, by a session management function entity of a wireless network, from an application function entity of the wireless network, a transmission policy of MBS application assistance information’ (Duan: [FIG.4]: S4: “AF updates MBS service parameters based on the analytics information and sends the updated MBS service parameters to the PCF”; S5: “PCF update the MBS policy based on analytics information and/or updated MBS service parameters and sends the updated MBS policy to the SMF”, SMF would obtain the transmission policy of MBS assistance information from AF via PCF);
‘wherein the transmission policy indicates which of a plurality of metrics are to be included in the MBS application assistance information’ (Duan: [0041]-[0073]: “determining the MBS assistance information … service experience … network performance … user data congestion … quality of service (QoS) sustainability … network function (NF) load … information of a delivery mode of specified service … UE subscription data related to MBS service …UE capability information for delivery mode … AN performance information”);
‘receiving, by the session management function entity, the MBS application assistance information according to the transmission policy’ (Duan: [FIG.4]: S5: “PCF update the MBS policy based on analytics information and/or updated MBS service parameters and sends the updated MBS policy to the SMF”, SMF would receive the MBS assistance information);
‘the MBS application assistance information being generated by an application function entity’ (Duan: [FIG.4]: S4: “AF updates the MBS service parameters based on the analytics information”);
‘based on service statistics data of a terminal device that processes the MBS and is obtained from the terminal device through an out-of-band communication path’ (Duan: [0034]-[0038]: “the MBS assistance information based on one or more of the following parameters: analytics information of network data; MBS policy; UE subscription data related to MBS services; or information sent by the UE to the CN function through non-access stratum (NAS) signaling”; [0043]: “the CN function is an application function (AF)”; [0282]: “statistics are made on UEs that receive the MBS service”; [FIG.4]: S1 to S3, S4: “AF updates the MBS service parameters based on the analytics information”; [0278]-[0286]: obtain service statistics data according to a transmission policy). However, Duan fails to expressly teach an out-of-band communication path;
‘performing, by the session management function entity, resource configuration processing of the MBS according to the MBS application assistance information’ (Duan: [FIG.4]: S6: “SMF determine the MBS assistance information based on analytics information, updated MBS policy provided by PCF”, S7: “SMF send the MBS assistance information to AN function”; SMF may perform resource configuration for MBS based on MBS assistance information).
However, Ali teaches MBS may include out-of-band control channels as alternate way for communications between mobile device and servers (Ali: [0044]: “the MBS may include out-of-band control channels (OOBCCs) to allow access to an MBS remotely from anywhere”; [Claim 15]: “a wireless local area network interface configured to provide out-of-band communications”; [0130]: “The OOBCCs 104 provide alternate ways to communicate with a remote server or service”; [0144]: “The remote servers 108 may include any number of server computers operable to communicate with the mobile device 114 via the MBS 10 (or OOBCCs)”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Ali’s teaching with that of Duan for AF to obtain service statistics data of a terminal device that processes the MBS through an out-of-band communication path in order to support alternate ways for communications between mobile device and servers (see reference quote in element above).
Per claim 2 and 14:
Regarding claim 14, combination of Duan and Ali teaches the communication apparatus according to claim 13 (discussed above).
Duan teaches ‘content of the application assistance information’ (Duan: [0036]: “MBS policy”; [0060]-[0067]: “the MBS assistance information includes … information of a delivery mode of specified service … UE subscription data related to MBS services … suggested policy for the delivery mode”, MBS policy may include content of the MBMS assistance information).
Regarding claim 2, claim 2 recites the communication method implemented by the communication apparatus according to claim 14 (discussed above).
Per claim 3 and 15:
Regarding claim 15, combination of Duan and Ali teaches the communication apparatus according to claim 14 (discussed above).
Duan teaches ‘wherein the metrics indicated in the transmission policy of the MBS application assistance information includes the content of the application assistance information’ (discussed in claim 14 above);
‘a quantity of terminal devices that process a specified MBS obtained via the application function entity’ (Duan: [0061]: “the first number of user equipments (UEs), used for indicating that the AN function is suggested to deliver the MBS service or session in a multicast or broadcast mode when the number of UEs that are receiving or expect to receive the MBS service … reaches the first number of UEs”; [FIG.5]: S6: “UE-1 .. UE-N+1 receive the MBS service” via “MBS AS” (AF)).
Regarding claim 3, claim 3 recites the communication method implemented by the communication apparatus according to claim 15 (discussed above).
Per claim 4 and 16:
Regarding claim 16, combination of Duan and Ali teaches the communication apparatus according to claim 15 (discussed above).
Duan teaches ‘wherein the content of the application assistance information includes the location information of the terminal device’ (Duan: [0301]: “information related to UE's MBS service in a specific area or location (for example, a specific tracking area, a tracking area list or a cell”, MBS assistance information may include the location information of UE);
‘cell information of the terminal device’ (Duan: [0340]: “UE-1 (UE-2 . . . UE-N) can learn which MBS services the cell supports through the cell broadcast information”, location information may include cell information of UE).
Regarding claim 4, claim 4 recites the communication method implemented by the communication apparatus according to claim 16 (discussed above).
Per claim 7 and 19:
Regarding claim 19, combination of Duan and Ali teaches the communication apparatus according to claim 13 (discussed above).
Duan does not expressly teach, but Ali teaches ‘wherein the out-of-band communication path is separate from the MBS’ (Ali: [Claim 15]: “a wireless local area network interface configured to provide out-of-band communications”; [0144]: “The remote servers 108 may include any number of server computers operable to communicate with the mobile device 114 via the MBS 10 (or OOBCCs)”; [0135]: “the OOBCCs 104 (which includes the short-burst-data satellite modem, e.g., Iridium—to communicate with remote servers and local long range communication (e.g., LoRa) to communicate with a local operator”, via out-of-band communication path such as wireless local area network, satellite or LoRa (separate from MBS); [0130]: “The OOBCCs 104 provide alternate ways to communicate with a remote server or service”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Ali’s teaching of OOBCC with that of Duan in order to support alternate ways for communications between mobile device and servers (see reference quote in element above).
Regarding claim 7, claim 7 recites the communication method implemented by the communication apparatus according to claim 19 (discussed above).
Per claim 8 and 20:
Regarding claim 20, combination of Duan and Ali teaches the communication apparatus according to claim 13 (discussed above).
Duan teaches ‘transmit, via the application function entity, the MBS application assistance information to the core network element out-of-band’ (Duan: [FIG.4]: S4: “AF updates the MBS service parameters based on the analytics information and sends the updated MBS service parameters to the PCF”, S6: “SMF determine the MBS assistance information”; may send MBMS assistance information to core network over control plane (out-of-band) via AF).
Regarding claim 8, claim 8 recites the communication method implemented by the communication apparatus according to claim 20 (discussed above).
Regarding claim 9, combination of Duan and Ali teaches the communication method according to claim 1 (discussed above).
Duan teaches ‘switching, by the application function entity, a broadcast service in a specified area to a multicast service or a unicast service’ (Duan: [0181]: “the switching between multicast (or broadcast) and unicast”; [FIG.2]: “S201: “Determining MBS assistance information”, S202: “Sending the MBS assistance information to AN function for indicating the AN function to determine the radio delivery mode for MBS service”; [0284]: “the MBS service area corresponding to the specific MBS services”; [0308]: “the AF updates the MBS service parameters … related to the MBS service in a specific area”; [0285]: “delivery mode=unicast, or multicast, or broadcast”, may switch a broadcast service in a specified area to multicast or unicast by AF);
‘when the application function entity determines that a quantity of terminal devices processing the broadcast service in the specified area is less than a set quantity according to the MBS application assistance information’ (Duan: [0206]: “determining that the radio delivery mode for the MBS service or session is multicast or broadcast radio delivery mode … when the third number of UEs reaches the fourth number of UEs, where the fourth number of UEs is the first number of UEs or the minimum number of UEs that receives the MBS service”; [0167]: “the first number of UEs may refer to the number of UEs suggested by the CN”; may determine unicast delivery mode if number of UE is less than a set number of UEs based on MBS assistance information).
Claims 5 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over combination of Duan and Ali, in view of Pham Van et al. (US 20230300682 A1), hereinafter “Pham”.
Per claim 5 and 17:
Regarding claim 17, combination of Duan and Ali teaches the communication apparatus according to claim 16 (discussed above).
Combination of Duan and Ali does not expressly teach, but Pham in the same field of endeavor teaches ‘the state type of the terminal device indicates one of an active state, an inactive state, and an idle state’ (Pham: [0009]: “when user equipments, UEs, are in mobility, it is desired to provide service continuity of MBS services for the UEs which are in RRC_CONNECTED state and in RRC_IDLE or INACTIVE state”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Pham’s teaching with that of that of combination of Duan and Ali to include the state type of the terminal device in the content of the application assistance information in order to provide service continuity of MBS services for UEs which are in mobility (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 5, claim 5 recites the communication method implemented by the communication apparatus according to claim 17 (discussed above).
Claims 6 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over combination of Duan and Ali, in view of Zhao et al. (US 20230269142 A1), hereinafter “Zhao”.
Per claim 6 and 18:
Regarding claim 18, combination of Duan and Ali teaches the communication apparatus according to claim 14 (discussed above).
Combination of Duan and Ali does not expressly teach, but Zhao in the same field of endeavor teaches ‘at least one of a user granularity’ (Zhao: [0004]: “The network data of user granularity”); ‘a terminal device granularity, and a service flow granularity’ (these are optional).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Zhao’s teaching with that of Duan to include the granularity information in the MBS application assistance information in order to configure NWDAF to collect network data associated with MBS services (Zhao: [Abstract]: “The NWDAF network element collects network data associated with an area of interest”).
Regarding claim 6, claim 6 recites the communication method implemented by the communication apparatus according to claim 18 (discussed above).
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over combination of Duan and Ali as applied to claim 1 above, in view of Jalloul et al. (US 20090154388 A1), hereinafter “Jalloul”.
Regarding claim 10, combination of Duan and Ali teaches the communication method according to claim 1 (discussed above).
Combination of Duan and Ali does not expressly teach ‘decreasing a modulation order of a broadcast service in a specified area when the application function entity determines that a receiving bit error rate of the terminal device that processes the broadcast service in the specified area is higher than a set bit error rate according to the MBS application assistance information’.
However, Jalloul in the same field of endeavor teaches Link Adaptation of a Broadcast System to adjust a modulation order of a broadcast service based on bit error rate (Jalloul: [Title]: “Link Adaptation Of A Broadcast System”; [0007]: “A percentage of subscribers that receive the signal having a received signal quality above the signal quality threshold is estimated. A transmission modulation format and coding is selected based on the estimated percentage”; [0018]: “selecting the order of the modulation and the rate of the coding of multi-broadcast system (MBS) transmission signals”; [0034]: “The signal quality of the broadcast signal can be measured in a variety of different ways. Exemplary measured signal qualities include one or more of CINR (carrier to interference/noise ratio), CNR (carrier to noise ratio), BER (bit error rate)”; [0038]: “the base station controller conveys back to each individual base station what modulation and coding format should be used by the base station for providing a desired MBS coverage … BER”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Jalloul’s teaching with that of combination of Duan and Ali to decrease a modulation order of a broadcast service in a specified area when the application function entity determines that a receiving bit error rate of the terminal device that processes the broadcast service in the specified area is higher than a set bit error rate according to the MBS application assistance information in order to ensure optimal data transmission by adapting to changing channel conditions.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over combination of Duan and Ali as applied to claim 1 above, in view of Akesson et al (US 20160381514 A1), hereinafter “Akesson”.
Regarding claim 11, combination of Duan and Ali teaches the communication method according to claim 1 (discussed above).
Combination of Duan and Ali does not expressly teach ‘adjusting a broadcast area of a specified broadcast service to include the terminal device when the application function entity determines that a mobile frequency of the terminal device that processes the specified broadcast service is higher than a set value according to the MBS application assistance information’.
However, Akesson in the same field of endeavor teaches extend MBS service coverage area (Akesson: “service coverage areas related to MBMS may also be extended”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Akesson’s teaching with that of combination of Duan and Ali to adjust a broadcast area of a specified broadcast service to include the terminal device when the application function entity determines that a mobile frequency of the terminal device that processes the specified broadcast service is higher than a set value according to the MBS application assistance information in order to reduce the mobile frequency of UE.
Conclusion
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/G.F./Examiner, Art Unit 2462
/YEMANE MESFIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2462