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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 6/9/26 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-29 and 42 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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, 7-8, 11-13, 15-17, 20-21, 24-26, 28-29 and 42 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai et al. (Tsai), U.S. Publication No. 2021/0105641 in view of Aydin et al. (Aydin), U.S. Publication No. 2017/0034765 in further view of Li et al. (Li), U.S. Publication No. 2018/0123962.
Regarding Claims 1 and 28, Tsai discloses a method of wireless
communication performed by a user equipment (UE) (i.e., user equipment 110; see figures 3A & 3B), comprising:
receiving, from a first base station associated with a first operator, a broadcast transmission conveying a first portion of a communication (i.e., the user equipment 110 receives the broadcast service (i.e., the first transmission service) from the first base station 120 through a broadcast bearer 310 (e.g., the MBMS bearer); see paragraph [0047]); and
receiving, without triggering a retransmission of the broadcast transmission (in other words, it is assumed that the measurement report 340 shows that the user equipment 110 should be handed over to a second base station 125, and a coverage of the second base station 125; see paragraph [0050]), a second portion of the communication via a unicast transmission from the second base station (i.e., the unicast service is, for example, forwarded by the service center 150 to the second base station 125 through a user plane gateway 165 (which includes, for example, the P-GW 170 and the S-GW 160) and then provided to the user equipment 110 by the second base station 125 through the unicast bearer 380; see paragraph [0055]).
Tsai fails to disclose providing, to a second base station associated with a second operator, information indicating a unique identifier of a packet at which the broadcast transmission failed, wherein the unicast transmission starts from the packet having the unique identifier or from a next packet after the packet having the unique identifier.
Aydin discloses providing, to a second base station associated with a second operator (i.e., both first and second base stations 101 and 105 may belong to different or the same operators; see paragraph [0071]), information indicating a packet (i.e., the detection of the malfunction may comprise…the detection may comprise evaluating the respond messages (by the first or second base station) for lost transmission packets (e.g. missing acknowledgements); see paragraph [0012]) at which the broadcast transmission failed (i.e., as soon as the malfunction of the first communication link 111 happens, the first base station 101 may broadcast a failure message indicative of the malfunction. The failure message may indicate the authorization information. The broadcasted failure message may be intercepted by the second base station 105 (i.e. detect the malfunction), and upon intercepting the failure message the second base station 105 may establish the communication link 201B as described above; see paragraph [0094]) See examiner’s response above.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to consider Aydin’s invention with Tsai’s invention to improve the operation of the base stations with the cellular networks as explained in paragraph [0002] of Aydin.
Tsai and Aydin fail to disclose a unique identifier of a packet, wherein the unicast transmission starts from the packet having the unique identifier or from a next packet after the packet having the unique identifier.
Li discloses a unique identifier of a packet (such as, a sequence number (SN) is a sequence number; see paragraph [0098]), wherein the unicast transmission starts from the packet having the unique identifier (i.e., the RTP packet is resent to the UE in the unicast transmission manner according to the RTP packet identifier; see paragraph [0079]) or from a next packet after the packet having the unique identifier.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to consider Li’s invention with Tsai’s and Aydin’s invention so that the resource can be used properly and efficiently as described throughout Li.
Regarding Claims 15 and 42, Tsai discloses a method for wireless
communication performed by a second base station (i.e., the second base station 125; see figure 3A) associated with a second operator (via user plane gateway 165; see figure 3B), comprising:
receiving, from a user equipment (UE) that received a first portion of a communication from a first base station associated with a first operator via a broadcast transmission (i.e., the user equipment 110 receives the broadcast service (i.e., the first transmission service) from the first base station 120 through a broadcast bearer 310 (e.g., the MBMS bearer); see paragraph [0047]); and
providing, without triggering a retransmission of the broadcast transmission, a second portion of the communication via a unicast transmission (i.e., the unicast service is, for example, forwarded by the service center 150 to the second base station 125 through a user plane gateway 165 (which includes, for example, the P-GW 170 and the S-GW 160) and then provided to the user equipment 110 by the second base station 125 through the unicast bearer 380; see paragraph [0055]).
Tsai fails to disclose information indicating a unique identifier of a packet at which the broadcast transmission failed, wherein the unicast transmission starts from the packet having the unique identifier or from a next packet after the packet having the unique identifier.
Aydin discloses information indicating a packet at which the broadcast transmission failed (i.e., as soon as the malfunction of the first communication link 111 happens, the first base station 101 may broadcast a failure message indicative of the malfunction. The failure message may indicate the authorization information. The broadcasted failure message may be intercepted by the second base station 105 (i.e. detect the malfunction), and upon intercepting the failure message the second base station 105 may establish the communication link 201B as described above; see paragraph [0094]) Also, see examiner’s response above.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to consider Aydin’s invention with Tsai’s invention to improve the operation of the base stations with the cellular networks as explained in paragraph [0002] of Aydin.
Tsai and Aydin fail to disclose a unique identifier of a packet, wherein the unicast transmission starts from the packet having the unique identifier or from a next packet after the packet having the unique identifier.
Li discloses a unique identifier of a packet (such as, a sequence number (SN) is a sequence number; see paragraph [0098]), wherein the unicast transmission starts from the packet having the unique identifier (i.e., the RTP packet is resent to the UE in the unicast transmission manner according to the RTP packet identifier; see paragraph [0079]) or from a next packet after the packet having the unique identifier.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to consider Li’s invention with Tsai’s and Aydin’s invention so that the resource can be used properly and efficiently as described throughout Li.
Regarding Claims 2 and 29, Tsai, Aydin and Li disclose the method
and the apparatus as described above. Tasi further discloses further comprising: detecting a failure of the broadcast transmission; and transmitting, to the second base station, a scheduling request to trigger an initialization of a unicast link on which the unicast transmission is conveyed (i.e., the unicast service is, for example, forwarded by the service center 150 to the second base station 125; see paragraph [0055]).
Regarding Claims 3 and 17, Tsai, Aydin and Li disclose the method
and the apparatus as described above. Tasi further discloses wherein the scheduling request includes information identifying a unique packet identifier associated with the communication (i.e., the first service information also includes the service identification information of the first transmission service, the service center 150 may accordingly make the content of the second transmission service (e.g., the specific live video) identical to the content of the first transmission service (i.e., the specific live video described above); see paragraph [0054]).
Regarding Claims 7 and 20, Tsai, Aydin and Li disclose the method
and the apparatus as described above. Tasi further discloses wherein the communication comprises a plurality of parts divided based at least in part on a communication protocol, and wherein each part includes an identifier (i.e., transmission protocols including global system for mobile communication (GSM), personal handy-phone system (PHS), code division multiple access (CDMA) system, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) system, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), or Long-Term Evolution (LTE). The user database 513 is used to store the consumption report and the user identification information; see paragraphs [0067] and [0068]).
Regarding Claim 8, Tsai, Aydin and Li disclose the method as described above.
Tasi further discloses further comprising: transmitting information identifying an identifier of a part of the plurality of parts to indicate where the second portion of the communication is to start (i.e., The first service information is, for example, the service identification information of the first transmission service, the consumption type (which indicates that the first transmission service is the broadcast service), the user identification information of the user equipment 110 (which matches the user identification information in the user plane request), the report time and the report location.; see paragraphs [0052] and [0053]).
Regarding Claims 11 and 24, Tsai, Aydin and Li disclose the method as
described above. Tasi further discloses wherein the second portion of the communication is received from the second base station via a broadcast multicast service function (i.e., the second base station 125 supports the broadcast service; see figure 4A).
Regarding Claims 12 and 25, Tsai, Aydin and Li disclose the method as
described above. Tasi further discloses wherein the first operator and the second operator share a connection on a core network (shown in figures 3A & 4A).
Regarding Claim 13, Tsai, Aydin and Li disclose the method as described
above. Tasi further discloses wherein the communication is received from a content delivery network via at least one of the first base station or the second base station (shown in figures 3A & 4A).
Regarding Claim 16, Tsai, Aydin and Li disclose the method as described
above. Tasi further discloses wherein receiving the information indicating comprises: receiving a scheduling request to trigger an initialization of a unicast link on which the unicast transmission is conveyed (i.e., the unicast service is, for example, forwarded by the service center 150 to the second base station 125; see paragraph [0055]). Tasi fails to disclose the packet at which the broadcast transmission failed. Aydin discloses the packet at which the broadcast transmission failed (i.e., as soon as the malfunction of the first communication link 111 happens, the first base station 101 may broadcast a failure message indicative of the malfunction. The failure message may indicate the authorization information. The broadcasted failure message may be intercepted by the second base station 105 (i.e. detect the malfunction), and upon intercepting the failure message the second base station 105 may establish the communication link 201B as described above; see paragraph [0094]). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to consider Aydin’s invention with Tsai’s invention to improve the operation of the base stations with the cellular networks as explained in paragraph [0002] of Aydin.
Regarding Claim 21, Tsai, Aydin and Li disclose the method as described
above. Tasi further discloses wherein receiving the information indicating comprises: receiving information identifying an identifier of a part of the plurality of parts to indicate where the second portion of the communication is to start (i.e., The first service information is, for example, the service identification information of the first transmission service, the consumption type (which indicates that the first transmission service is the broadcast service), the user identification information of the user equipment 110 (which matches the user identification information in the user plane request), the report time and the report location.; see paragraphs [0052] and [0053]). Tsai fails to disclose the packet at which the broadcast transmission failed. Aydin discloses the packet at which the broadcast transmission failed (i.e., as soon as the malfunction of the first communication link 111 happens, the first base station 101 may broadcast a failure message indicative of the malfunction. The failure message may indicate the authorization information. The broadcasted failure message may be intercepted by the second base station 105 (i.e. detect the malfunction), and upon intercepting the failure message the second base station 105 may establish the communication link 201B as described above; see paragraph [0094]). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to consider Aydin’s invention with Tsai’s invention to improve the operation of the base stations with the cellular networks as explained in paragraph [0002] of Aydin.
Regarding Claim 26, Tsai, Aydin and Li disclose the method as described
above. Tsai further discloses further comprising: obtaining the communication from a content delivery network (see figure 3A).
Claim(s) 4-6 and 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai, Aydin and Li in view of Oyman et al. (Oyman), U.S. Publication No. 2016/0191258.
Regarding Claims 4 and 18, Tsai, Aydin and Li disclose the method as
described above. Tsai, Aydin and Li fail to disclose wherein the second portion of the communication starts from a first missing packet after a failure of the broadcast transmission. Oyman discloses wherein the second portion of the communication starts from a first missing packet after a failure of the broadcast transmission (in other words, If the number of lost media content packets is greater than the defined threshold, then the MBMS client can switch from the broadcast streaming mode to the unicast streaming mode.; see paragraph [0037]). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to consider Oyman’s invention with Tsai’s, Aydin’s and Li’s invention to increase reliability and a user level of satisfaction (see paragraph [0033] of Oyman).
Regarding Claims 5 and 19, Tsai, Aydin and Li disclose the method as described above. Tsai, Aydin and Li fail to disclose wherein the second portion of the communication starts from the next packet after a first missing packet after a failure of the broadcast transmission. Oyman discloses wherein the second portion of the communication starts from the next packet after a first missing packet after a failure of the broadcast transmission (in other words, If the MBMS decoder buffer level is below the defined threshold, then the MBMS client can continue operating in the unicast streaming mode.; see paragraph [0038]). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to consider Oyman’s invention with Tsai’s, Aydin’s and Li’s invention to increase reliability and a user level of satisfaction (see paragraph [0033] of Oyman).
Regarding Claim 6, Tsai, Aydin and Li disclose the method as described above. Tsai, Aydin and Li fail to disclose further comprising: determining that a measurement of the broadcast transmission does not satisfy a threshold; identifying a failure of the broadcast transmission based at least in part on determining that the measurement of the broadcast transmission does not satisfy the threshold; and wherein receiving the second portion of the communication via the unicast transmission comprises: receiving the second portion of the communication via the unicast transmission based at least in part on identifying the failure of the broadcast transmission. Oyman discloses further comprising: determining that a measurement of the broadcast transmission does not satisfy a threshold; identifying a failure of the broadcast transmission based at least in part on determining that the measurement of the broadcast transmission does not satisfy the threshold; and wherein receiving the second portion of the communication via the unicast transmission comprises: receiving the second portion of the communication via the unicast transmission based at least in part on identifying the failure of the broadcast transmission (i.e., The MBMS client can determine whether an MBMS decoder buffer level is below a defined threshold. If the MBMS decoder buffer level is below the defined threshold, then the MBMS client can switch from the broadcast streaming mode to the unicast streaming mode.; see paragraph [0037]). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to consider Oyman’s invention with Tsai’s, Aydin’s and Li’s invention to increase reliability and a user level of satisfaction (see paragraph [0033] of Oyman).
Claim(s) 9-10 and 22-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai, Aydin and Li in view of Hayashi, U.S. Publication No. 2008/0184087.
Regarding Claims 9 and 22, Tsai, Aydin and Li disclose the method as
described above. Tsai, Aydin and Li fail to disclose further comprising: detecting a setup failure for a unicast link on which the unicast transmission is to be conveyed; and receiving the second portion of the communication via the unicast link after the setup failure, wherein the second portion of the communication at least partially overlaps with the first portion of the communication. Hayashi discloses further comprising: detecting a setup failure for a unicast link on which the unicast transmission is to be conveyed; and receiving the second portion of the communication via the unicast link after the setup failure, wherein the second portion of the communication at least partially overlaps with the first portion of the communication (in other words, unicast transmission is carried out between the server 1 and the clients. However, content data transmitted subsequently is transmitted by multicast transmission such that the content data can be simultaneously received by the clients; see paragraph [0078]). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to consider Hayashi’s invention with Tsai’s, Aydin’s and Li’s invention for further improving packet transmission efficiency and reliability as described throughout Hayashi.
Regarding Claims 10 and 23, Tsai, Aydin and Li disclose the method as
described above. Tsai, Aydin and Li fail to disclose further comprising: detecting a setup failure for a unicast link on which the unicast transmission is to be conveyed; and receiving the second portion of the communication via the unicast link after the setup failure, wherein the second portion of the communication is disjoint from the first portion of the communication. Hayashi discloses further comprising: detecting a setup failure for a unicast link on which the unicast transmission is to be conveyed; and receiving the second portion of the communication via the unicast link after the setup failure, wherein the second portion of the communication is disjoint from the first portion of the communication (in other words, When the multicast determining unit 472 determines that the packets have been sent by unicast transmission… When an error is detected in a packet, that packet is discarded, and a retransmission request signal for requesting the packet to be retransmitted is sent to the server 1.; see paragraph [0064]). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to consider Hayashi’s invention with Tsai’s, Aydin’s and Li’s invention for further improving packet transmission efficiency and reliability as described throughout Hayashi.
Claim(s) 14 and 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai, Aydin and Li in view of Malladi et al. (Malladi), U.S. Publication No. 2016/0337817.
Regarding Claims 14 and 27, Tsai, Aydin and Li disclose the method as described above. Tsai, Aydin and Li fail to disclose wherein the UE is subscribed to the second operator and not subscribed to the first operator. Malladi discloses wherein the UE is subscribed to the second operator and not subscribed to the first operator (in other words, The UEs 920 and 970 may include UEs subscribed to the MNO network 908, UEs subscribed to the MNO network 958, UEs subscribed to other MNO networks, and/or UEs that have no cellular subscription to any MNO.; see paragraph [0092] and figure 9). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to consider Malladi’s invention with Tsai’s, Aydin’s and Li’s invention for improving spectral efficiency, lowering costs, and improving services (see paragraph [0006] of Malladi).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Rollet, U.S. Publication No. 2019/0109678 discloses requesting retransmission of
data in a multicast network
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHANTELL LAKETA HEIBER whose telephone number is (571)272-0886. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F from 9am to 5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anthony Addy, can be reached at telephone number (571)272-0886. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHANTELL L HEIBER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645
September 30, 2026
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