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 .
Response to Amendment
Amendments filed on 06/22/2026 are entered. The amendments change the scopes of the previously presented claims. New grounds of rejections are made to the currently amended claims. The current Office Action is made FINAL as necessitated by the claim amendments.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-13 and 15-18 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 and 6-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matoli (US 2021/0352443) in views of Kadiri (US 2023/0029146) and Kim (US 2023/0232189).
Matoli discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 1, a method implemented in a UE for managing information related to MBS, when the UE has a radio connection with a RAN (see UE 110 and 5G NR RAN 122 in Fig. 4b), the method comprising:
transmitting, to the RAN, an MBS interest indication that indicates a configuration according to which the UE prefers to receive an MBS transmission (see “In 458, the UE 110 may transmit an indication to the 5G NR RAN 122 that the UE 110 is interested in an MBS session. This MBS interest indication may include the UE context such as, but not limited to, SUPI, PDU session ID, application ID, etc.” recited in paragraph [0069] and Fig. 4b).
Regarding claim 6, a UE configured to manage information related to MBS< when the UE has a radio connection with a RAN (see UE 110 and 5G NR RAN 122 in Fig. 4b), the UE including: a transceiver; and a processing hardware (see UE including processor 205 and transceiver 225 in Fig. 2) configured to: transmit, to the RAN, an MBS interest indication that indicates a configuration according to which the UE prefers to receive an MBS transmission (see “In 458, the UE 110 may transmit an indication to the 5G NR RAN 122 that the UE 110 is interested in an MBS session. This MBS interest indication may include the UE context such as, but not limited to, SUPI, PDU session ID, application ID, etc.” recited in paragraph [0069] and Fig. 4b).
Regarding claim 7, a method implemented in a node of a RAN for managing information related to MBS, when a UE has a radio connection with the RAN (see UE 110 and 5G NR RAN 122 in Fig. 4b), the method comprising:
receiving an MBS interest indication that indicates a configuration according to which the UE prefers to receive an MBS transmission (see “In 458, the UE 110 may transmit an indication to the 5G NR RAN 122 that the UE 110 is interested in an MBS session. This MBS interest indication may include the UE context such as, but not limited to, SUPI, PDU session ID, application ID, etc.” recited in paragraph [0069] and Fig. 4b).
Matoli does not disclose the following features: regarding claims 1 and 6, the configuration including at least one frequency on which the UE prefers to receive a particular MBS; detecting, subsequently to the transmitting, a failure on the radio connection; and retaining, the configuration at the UE in response to the detecting; regarding claim 7, the configuration including at least one frequency on which the UE prefers to receive a particular MBS; determining that the UE is reestablishing the radio connection; and retaining the configuration at the node in response to the determination.
Kadiri discloses the following features.
Regarding claims 1 and 6-7, the configuration including at least one frequency on which the UE prefers to receive a particular MBS (see “In an aspect, in transmitting the broadcast service interest indication at Block 404, broadcast service indicating component 254 can include the one or more frequencies in the broadcast service interest indication” recited in paragraph [0065] and Fig. 4).
Kim discloses the following features.
Regarding claims 1 and 6, detecting, subsequently to the transmitting, a failure on the radio connection (see “A case that the UE detects or declares a radio connection failure” recited in paragraph [0510], which discloses a condition for switching the MBS service as shown in Fig. 1r, wherein the UE receives an existing MBS service prior to the switching, and thus must occur after the transmission of the MBS interest indication based on the teaching of Kadiri); and retaining, the configuration at the UE in response to the detecting (see Fig. 1R and see “Fig. 1R is a diagram illustrating a first switching method for continuously supporting (transmitting or receiving) an MBS service…” recited in paragraph [0493], wherein the claimed “configuration including (i) the MBS service” the UE is receiving is retained by the switching method).
Regarding claim 7, determining that the UE is reestablishing the radio connection (see “when the UE receives the MBS service as a unicast service according to the base station configuration or system information or RRC message or MBS control message, as in 1r-02, the UE may receive a service by establishing, establishing, or reestablishing a unicast bearer or by switching to a unicast bearer” recited in paragraph [0497]); and retaining the configuration at the node in response to the determination (see Fig. 1R and see “Fig. 1R is a diagram illustrating a first switching method for continuously supporting (transmitting or receiving) an MBS service…” recited in paragraph [0493], wherein the claimed “configuration including (i) the MBS service” the UE is receiving is retained by the switching method).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current application to modify the system of Matoli using features, as taught by Kadiri and Kim, in order to inform the RAN that the UE is receiving or is interested to receive MBS service (see 0065] of Kadiri) and in order to continuously supporting (transmitting or receiving) an MBS service (see paragraph [0493] of Kim).
Claim(s) 2, 10 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matoli, Kadiri and Kim as applied to claims 1 and 6-7 above, and further in view of Adjakple (US 2023/0362960).
Matoli, Kadiri and Kim disclose the features as shown above.
Matoli does not disclose the following features: regarding claims 2 and 15, updating the configuration to generate an updated configuration; and transmitting, to the RAN, an updated MBS interest indication that indicates the updated configuration; regarding claim 10, receiving an updated MBS interest indication that indicates an updated configuration; and updating the configuration to the updated configuration.
Adjakple discloses the following features.
Regarding claims 2 and 15, updating the configuration to generate an updated configuration (see “if the set of MBS frequencies of interest, determined in accordance with procedure A, has changed since the last transmission of the MBSInterestIndication message…initiate transmission of the MBSINterestIndication message in accordance with procedure C” recited in paragraph [0415]-[0418]; and paragraphs [0442]-[0444] shows that procedure C includes the transmission of MBSInterestIndication with updated configuration); and
transmitting, to the RAN, an updated MBS interest indication that indicates the updated configuration (see “if the set of MBS frequencies of interest, determined in accordance with procedure A, has changed since the last transmission of the MBSInterestIndication message…initiate transmission of the MBSINterestIndication message in accordance with procedure C” recited in paragraph [0415] and [0418]; and paragraphs [0442]-[0444] shows that procedure C includes the transmission of MBSInterestIndication with updated configuration).
Regarding claim 10, receiving an updated MBS interest indication that indicates an updated configuration; and updating the configuration to the updated configuration (see “if the set of MBS frequencies of interest, determined in accordance with procedure A, has changed since the last transmission of the MBSInterestIndication message…initiate transmission of the MBSINterestIndication message in accordance with procedure C” recited in paragraph [0415] and [0418]; and paragraphs [0442]-[0444] shows that procedure C includes the transmission of MBSInterestIndication with updated configuration; and Matoli shows that the RAN node receives the MBS interest indication and provide the MBS session accordingly as in Fig. 4b).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current application to modify the system of Matoli, Kadiri and Kim using features, as taught by Adjakple, in order to inform the RAN that the UE is interested to receive MBS service (see paragraph [0404] and [0415] of Adjakple).
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matoli, Kadiri and Kim as applied to claims 7 above, and further in view of Shrivastava (US 2022/0046389).
Matoli, Kadiri and Kim disclose the features as shown above.
Matoli does not disclose the following features: regarding claims 8, transmitting subsequently to retaining the configuration, the MBS interest indication to a second node of the RAN.
Shrivastava discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 8, transmitting subsequently to retaining the configuration, the MBS interest indication to a second node of the RAN (see step S1906 in Fig. 19, wherein the source gNodeB transmits MBS interest indication to a target gNodeB).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current application to modify the system of Matoli, Kadiri and Kim using features, as taught by Shrivastava, in order to perform MBS switching during handover scenario (see paragraph [0160] of Shrivastava).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5, 9, 11-13 and 16-18 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: no reasonable combination of prior art references is found to disclose all of the claimed features, as a whole, as required in the currently presented claims 3-5, 9, 11-13 and 16-18.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUTAI KAO whose telephone number is (571)272-9719. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00-17:00 EST.
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/JUTAI KAO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473
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