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 allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). 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, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 6/25/26 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-2, 4-6, 8-10 and 12-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1, at part ‘iv)’ states “the bearer” and “the bearer associated with the RLC entity” (lines 11-12), however, it is unclear and indefinite whether the claim refers to the same or different ‘the bearer’, especially since the claim refers to both “a bearer for multicast and broadcast service (MBS)’ and “a multicast bearer for the MBS” as separate bearers while having functionally similar language.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the MBS" in line 10. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Although line 5 states “an identity of a bearer for MBS”, this is not the same as an ‘a MBS’ but rather the ‘identity’s intended use is for MBS. Examiner recommends amending the claim to state “i) an identity of a bearer for multicast and broadcast service (MBS)” to state “i) an identity of a bearer for a multicast and broadcast service (MBS)” to overcome the rejection.
Claims 5, 9, and 13 are rejected for similar reasons as above.
Claims 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14-19 are rejected for being dependent upon the rejected base claims.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: If the rejections under 35 USC 112 2nd paragraph were overcome, the claims would appear to be allowable under the previous prior art based on the amendments to the claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER R CROMPTON whose telephone number is (571)270-3678. The examiner can normally be reached 10AM-4PM ET M-Th.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Asad Nawaz can be reached at (571)272-3988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER R CROMPTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463
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