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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-8, 33-37, 43, and 46 are presented for examination.
Claims 1 and 33 are amended.
Claims 9-32, 38-42, 44-45 and 60-95 are canceled.
Claims 55-59 withdrawn.
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, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 4/29/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Regarding 35 U.S.C. 103 applicant’s arguments, see page 7 paragraph 3, filed December 2, 2025, with respect to claims 1-8, 33-37, 43, and 46 have been fully considered and are not persuasive.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-8, 33-37, 43, and 46 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.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Hence a new ground of rejection is further made in view of Lane et al (US Patent No.:5,521,940). New grounds of rejection is also made in view of Jazra et al (US Pub. No.:2012/0033563) and Tan et al (US Pub. No.:2005/0083934).
Claim Objections
Claims 1-8, 33-37, 43, and 46 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recites “generate at least one modified protocol data unit having an internal structure that is a modification with respect to an internal structure of the predefined protocol data unit " in lines 5-6. For consistency and clarification with “an internal structure” line 5, it is suggested to change claim 1 to “generate at least one modified protocol data unit having an internal structure that is a modification with respect to the internal structure of the predefined protocol data unit”.
Claim 33 is also objected for the same reason as set forth above for claim 1.
Claims 2-9, 34-37, 43, and 46 are also objected to, since, they are dependent on the objected base independent claims 1 and 33, respectfully, as set forth above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
Claims 1-8, 33-37, 43, and 46 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 has been amended to recite, " ... generate at least one modified protocol data unit having an internal structure that is a modification with respect to an internal structure of the predefined protocol data unit”. Neither the claim nor the specification further describe, “… generate at least one modified protocol data unit having an internal structure that is a modification with respect to an internal structure of the predefined protocol data unit”. Paragraphs 0156, 0160, 0167 of instant application disclose, “A cell 51 is generated by a base station 52 for a mobile telecommunications system/network (here a gNB—“next generation eNodeB”). In this embodiment, the base station 52 is configured to transmit a predefined PDU, wherein the PDU can be represented by a layered structure, as discussed herein. Furthermore, the base station is configured to determine at least one signaling condition, as discussed herein. Based on the at, least one signaling condition, the base station is configured to adapt a number of signaling legs.” The claims and the specification of the instant application does not describe the method/step, “... generate at least one modified protocol data unit having an internal structure that is a modification with respect to an internal structure of the predefined protocol data unit.” Therefore claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement
The subject matter was not described in the specification (see paragraphs 0041, 0043, 0058, 0156, 0160, 0167) in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and /or use the invention.
Claim 33 is also rejected for the same reason as set forth above for claim 1.
Claims 2-8, 34-37, 43, and 46 are also rejected since they are dependent on the rejected dependent claims 1 and 33, respectfully, as set forth above.
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1-6, 33-37, 43 and 46 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tang (EP3585093A1), and further in view of Lane et al (US Patent No.:5,521,940).
As per claim 1, Tang disclose A base station (Fig. 1, base station 20, Fig.6, Network device 400) for a mobile telecommunications network, the base station comprising:
circuitry (see Fig.6, Processing unit 410) configured to:
transmit a predefined protocol data unit according to a predefined protocol of the mobile telecommunications network across a number of signaling legs (see Figure 4, para. 0088-0094, step 210 and related parts of description; the base station determines whether to use a single link (leg) or duplicate links (legs));
generate at least one modified protocol data unit (see Figure 2, para. 0051-0052, for Media Access Control (MAC), upon knowing which logical channel transmits the duplication data of a same PDCP PDU / generate at least one modified, these duplication data are transmitted on different carriers via different Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) entities. For example, the duplication data carried in the logical channel 1 are transmitted on the physical carrier 1 via the HARQ entity 1, and the duplication data carried in the logical channel 2 are transmitted on the physical carrier 2 via the HARD entity 2); and
adapt the number of signaling legs based on at least one signaling condition (see para. 0094, several channel quality information conditions {signaling condition} including number of retransmissions / number of signaling legs), wherein the predefined protocol data unit is distributed across the number of signaling legs (see Figure 2, para. 0051-0052, as illustrated in FIG. 2, PDCP layer has a split bearer duplication function. A data process of the PDCP service data unit 1 (SDU1) is duplicated and encapsulated into PDCP PDU1 and PDCP PDU2. The PDCP PDU1 and the PDCP PDU2 have the same content, i.e., both of them bear the same data payload and header. The PDCP PDU1 and the PDCP PDU2 are respectively mapped to different Radio Link Control (RLC) entities, and the RLC entities place the PDCP POU1 and the PDCP PDU2 into different logical channels (logical channel 1 and logical channel 2). For Media Access Control (MAC), upon).
Although Tang disclose generate at least one modified protocol data unit by duplication;
Tang however does not explicitly disclose generate at least one modified protocol data unit “having an internal structure that is a modification with respect to an internal structure of the predefined protocol data unit”.
Lane however disclose to generate at least one modified protocol data unit “having an internal structure that is a modification with respect to an internal structure of the predefined protocol data unit” (see para. 22, 25-28, 37-42, 59, by means of a data compression method of the type applied to a system of data transmission by the exchange of protocol data units between at least one transmitter terminal and at least one receiver terminal, each of said protocol data units comprising a header field and a data field, said method associating, with a first sequence of N source protocol data units, a second sequence of M protocol data units to be transmitted, M being smaller than or equal to N / to generate at least one modified protocol data unit “having an internal structure, at least certain of the data fields of said protocol data units to be transmitted comprising data corresponding to the compression, according to at least one compression algorithm, of data contained in the data fields of at least two of said source protocol data units, and at least certain of said protocol units to be transmitted comprising reconstruction data enabling the reconstruction of said first sequence of source protocol data units from said second sequence of protocol data units to be transmitted/ a modification with respect to an internal structure of the predefined protocol data unit).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality to generate at least one modified protocol data unit “having an internal structure that is a modification with respect to an internal structure of the predefined protocol data unit”, as taught by Lane, in the system of Tang, so as to enable a terminal device to set up two redundant protocol data unit (PDU) Sessions over the 5G network, so that selective compression of the data zones is done, the headers are preserved integrally, and the quantity of information elements to be transmitted is substantially reduced, with a source protocol data unit, there is associated a compressed protocol data unit whose header is identical to that of the source protocol data unit, see Lane, paragraphs 11-12.
As per claim 2, the combination of Tang and Lane disclose the base station of claim 1.
Tang further disclose wherein the at least one signaling condition includes at least one of a radio condition, a service requirement, or a data size (see para. 0093-0094, the operation that the network device determines the transmission manner of the PDCP PDU of the first terminal device includes the following action. The network device determines the transmission manner of the PDCP PDU according to channel quality information of at least one link).
As per claim 3, the combination of Tang and Lane disclose the base station of claim 2.
Tang further disclose wherein the at least one radio condition includes at least one of a reference signal receiver power, channel quality indicator, block error rate (see para. 0094, the channel quality information of the at least one link includes the number of times of retransmission scheduling on the at least one link within a first time period, the number of times of continuous initial transmission scheduling on the at least one link within a second time period or an MCS value of each link).
As per claim 4, the combination of Tang and Lane disclose the base station of claim 1.
Tang further disclose wherein the circuitry is further configured to transmit the at least one modified protocol data unit across the number of signaling legs (see Figure 2, para. 0051-0052, For Media Access Control (MAC), upon knowing which logical channel transmits the duplication data of a same PDCP PDU, these duplication data are transmitted on different carriers via different Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) entities. For example, the duplication data carried in the logical channel 1 are transmitted on the physical carrier 1 via the HARQ entity 1, and the duplication data carried in the logical channel 2 are transmitted on the physical carrier 2 via the HARD entity 2).
As per claim 5, the combination of Tang and Lane disclose the base station of claim 4.
Tang further disclose wherein the circuitry is further configured to transmit configuration information to a user equipment, such that the user equipment is able to transmit the at least one modified protocol data unit (see Figure 2, para. 0051-0052, 0058-0060, the operation that the first terminal device determines the transmission manner of the PDCP PDU includes the following action. The first terminal device determines the transmission manner of the PDCP PDU according to channel quality information of at least one link).
As per claim 6, the combination of Tang and Yu disclose the base station of claim 5.
Tang further disclose wherein the circuitry is further configured to receive the at least one modified protocol data unit from the user equipment (see Figure 2, para. 0051-0052, 0058-0060, the operation that the first terminal device determines the transmission manner of the PDCP PDU includes the following action. The first terminal device determines the transmission manner of the PDCP PDU according to channel quality information of at least one link).
As per claim 33, claim 33 is rejected the same way as claim 1. Tang also disclose A user equipment (see Fig.1, US 10) for a mobile telecommunications network including a base station (see Fig.1, base station 10).
As per claim 34, claim 34 is rejected the same way as claim 2.
As per claim 35, claim 35 is rejected the same way as claim 3.
As per claim 36, claim 36 is rejected the same way as claim 4.
As per claim 37, claim 37 is rejected the same way as claim 5.
As per claim 43, the combination of Tang and Yu disclose the user equipment of claim 33.
Tang further disclose wherein the circuitry is further configured to exchange assistance information with the base station (see Figure 2, para. 0051-0052, 0058-0060, the operation that the first terminal device determines the transmission manner of the PDCP PDU includes the following action. The first terminal device determines the transmission manner of the PDCP PDU according to channel quality information of at least one link).
As per claim 46, the combination of Tang and Lane disclose the user equipment of claim 33.
Tang further disclose wherein the predefined protocol data unit is distributed across the number of signaling legs based on at least one of segmentation information and reassembly information (see para. 0032-0035, the operation that the network device determines the transmission manner of the PDCP PDU according to the MCS value of the at least one link includes the following action. In condition that the MCS value of any of the at least one link is greater than or equal to a third threshold, the net work device
determines the transmission manner of the PDCP PDU as the single-link transmission manner; or in
condition that the MCS value of each of the at least one link is less than the third threshold,
the network device).
Claims 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tang (EP3585093A1), in view of Lane et al (US Patent No.:5,521,940) and further in view of Chun (US Pub. No.: 2024/0005868).
As per claim 7, the combination of Tang and Lane disclose the base station of claim 4.
The combination of Tang and Lane however does not explicitly disclose wherein the circuitry is configured to generate the at least one modified protocol data unit is an artificial intelligence.
Chun disclose wherein a circuitry is configured to generate at least one modified protocol data unit is an artificial intelligence (see Fig.1, para. 0130-0136, the learning processor 130 is trained by a model constructed by an artificial neural network using learning data. In this case, the trained artificial neural network is called a learning model. The learning model may be used to deduce a result value of new input data not learning data, and the deduced value may be used as a base for performing a given operation).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide wherein at least one modified protocol data unit is generated by an artificial intelligence, as taught by Chun, in the system of Tang and Lane, so as to provide a method for performing roaming to a network of other available surrounding service provider and providing services, when a UE is located in a service provision area of a service provider to which the UE subscribes, but the service provider cannot temporarily provide services, see Chun, paragraphs 4-6.
As per claim 8, the combination of Tang, Lane and Chun disclose the base station of claim 7.
Chun further disclose wherein a training input for the artificial intelligence includes at least one of the at least one signaling condition, a mobility status, at least one service requirement, a packet size or position information (see Fig,1, para. 0025, 0136-0143, Fig.2, para. 0153-0157, 0174, Fig.5, para. 0233-0241, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer of the second layer performs a header compression function of reducing an IP packet header size that has a relatively large size and contains unnecessary control information, in order to efficiently transmit data in a radio section having a small bandwidth upon transmission of IP packet such as IPv4 or IPv6).
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Second Rejection:
Claims 1 and 33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huawei (HUAWEI ET AL: "Activating and deactivating packet duplication", 3GPP DRAFT; R2-1703529 ACTIVATING AND DEACCTIVATING PACKET DUPLICATION, IDS submitted 4/19/2023), and further in view of Jazra et al (US Pub. No.:2012/0033563).
As per claim 1, Huawei disclose A base station for a mobile telecommunications network, the base station comprising: circuitry configured to: transmit a predefined protocol data unit according to a predefined protocol of the mobile telecommunications network across a number of signaling legs, and adapt the number of signaling legs based on at least one signaling condition, wherein the predefined protocol data unit is distributed across the number of signaling legs (see page 1-4, activating and deactivating packet duplication. On the basis of measurements made by a UE, a MgNB makes a decision based on criteria such as DL or UL channel conditions and loading whether to activate of deactivate packet duplication. If duplication is activated, a PScell may be used i.e. a SgNB, in addition to the MgNB, for transmission of both uplink and downlink packet data. If deactivation is similarly performed by the MgNB on the basis of UE measurements).
Huawei however does not explicitly disclose generate at least one modified protocol data unit “having an internal structure that is a modification with respect to an internal structure of the predefined protocol data unit”.
Jazra however disclose to generate at least one modified protocol data unit “having an internal structure that is a modification with respect to an internal structure of the predefined protocol data unit” (see Fig.5, para. 0051, Fig.6, 0052-0053, As shown in FIG. 6, a block 606 of application data originating at the application layer 502 in the mobile wireless communication device 106 is encapsulated as UDP data 608. A UDP header 610 is appended to the UDP data 608 in the transport layer 504 when using the UDP 516 transport layer protocol to form a transport layer packet. The transport layer packet is passed to the internet layer 504 as an IP data block 608 which is in turn be encapsulated with an IP header 612 to form an IP datagram 614 / generate at least one modified protocol data unit “having an internal structure, and the transceiver 304, using a set of link layer 532 protocols can transform the IP datagram 614 into a series of lower layer protocol data units (PDUs) 616 that is transmitted across a physical layer link / a modification with respect to an internal structure of the predefined protocol data unit).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality to generate at least one modified protocol data unit “having an internal structure that is a modification with respect to an internal structure of the predefined protocol data unit”, as taught by Jazra, in the system of Huawei, so as to classify and prioritize packets at both the network and link layers automatically by the mobile wireless communication device using an IP header, see Jazra, paragraphs 4-6.
As per claim 33, claim 33 is rejected the same way as claim 1
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Third Rejection:
Claims 1 and 33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ericsson ("Data duplication and link selection for URLLC in NR", 3GPP DRAFT; R2-1700428 - DATA DUPLICATION AND LINK SELECTION FOR URLLC IN NR, 3RD GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT (3GPP), IDS submitted 4/19/2023), and further in view of Tan et al (US Pub. No.:2005/0083934).
As per claim 1, Ericsson disclose A base station for a mobile telecommunications network, the base station comprising: circuitry configured to: transmit a predefined protocol data unit according to a predefined protocol of the mobile telecommunications network across a number of signaling legs, and adapt the number of signaling legs based on at least one signaling condition, wherein the predefined protocol data unit is distributed across the number of signaling legs (see page 1-4, data duplication and link selection for URLLC in NR. PDUs are transmitted over a single or multiple connections. The link selection may be made e.g. depending on channel status information and the link(s) can be dynamically selected).
Ericsson however does not explicitly disclose generate at least one modified protocol data unit “having a structure that is a modification with respect to a structure of the predefined protocol data unit”.
Tan however disclose to generate at least one modified protocol data unit “having a structure that is a modification with respect to a structure of the predefined protocol data unit” (see Fig.1, para. 0035-0037, predefined data packets which need to be compressed are compressed based on information specified by a protocol layer management entity 111, predefined data packets which have passed through different protocol layers and include a compressed or uncompressed header need to be processed, and they are directed to the encoding section 106 / a modification with respect to a structure of the predefined protocol data unit, or decoding section 107. The path for the PDUs for compression and decompression in the transcoder is the bidirectional path 108 which traverses through the packet stream registration section 105, see also Fig.2, para. 0041, Fig.3, 0042-0044).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality to generate at least one modified protocol data unit “having a structure that is a modification with respect to a structure of the predefined protocol data unit” as taught by Tan, in the system of Ericsson, so as to provide a header compression/decompression apparatus and header compression/decompression method capable of improving the throughput of the entire multilayer protocol stack at network nodes, see Tan, paragraph 12.
As per claim 33, claim 33 is rejected the same way as claim 1
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Wei (US Pub. No.:2024/0121328) – see para. 0056, “The method comprising receiving, at the transmitting entity, data for transmission via a wireless access interface of the wireless communications network, dividing the data into portions for transmission, forming from each portion of data for each of one or more protocol layers one or more protocol data units, the one or more protocol data unit being formed for each layer according to a protocol applied by the layer for transmitting the protocol data unit and each of the protocol data units for each layer includes a header, and transmitting the data via the wireless access interface by processing each of the one or more protocol data units via each of the one or more protocol layers”.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAKERAM JANGBAHADUR whose telephone number is (571)272-1335. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7 am - 4 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian Moore can be reached on 571-272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LAKERAM JANGBAHADUR/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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