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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 1/5/2026 has been entered.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4-7, 9-12, 14, 24, 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZENG et al (US 2023/0067851) in view of JIA et al (US 2023/0132875), further in view of LATHEEF et al (US 2021/0259051)
Regarding claim 1, 14, A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising:
receiving an indication that multiple audio channels are to be established over separate multiple quality of service (QoS) flows (ZENG: Fig. 5, ¶141, ¶180, ¶177, ¶147, ¶202, ¶206, ¶208, ¶347, ¶152, M is integer greater than 1; receiving indication a2 including information a2” which indicates to the receiving device i.e. UE, that the M number of QoS flows are associated and separate from each other; the association is that the dual channels are related and are to be established for audio); and
establishing a first audio channel of the multiple audio channels over a first QoS flow and a second audio channel of the multiple audio channels over a second QoS flow based at least in part on receiving the indication (ZENG: ¶3, ¶177, ¶180, ¶147, ¶152, ¶160-161, ¶211-214, M QoS flows are established based on the information in the a2 indication information);
ZENG remains silent regarding the multiple audio channels being dual audio channels;
However, JIA et al (US 20230132875) discloses the multiple audio channels being dual audio channels (JIA: ¶108, ¶226, dual channels are established for audio communication between at least the core and a UE)
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZENG would have been motivated to use the teachings of JIA as it provides a way to improve the reliability by having same audio data on multiple links. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZENG with teachings of JIA in order to improve reliable communication.
ZENG modified by JIA does not explicitly disclose the QoS flows are independent.
However, LATHEEF et al (US 2021/0259051) discloses each of the QoS flows is independent (LATHEEF: ¶104, multiple flows are independent with respect to their associated QoS).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZENG and JIA would have been motivated to use the teachings of LATHEEF as it provides ease of management of QoS guarantees based on QFIs. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZENG and JIA with teachings of LATHEEF in order to enhance ease of QoS flow guarantees management and delivery.
Regarding claim 2, 24, ZENG modified JIA modified by LATHEEF discloses a method of claim 1, wherein the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow are associated with dual connectivity for the UE (ZENG: ¶240, dual connectivity scenario; JIA: ¶108, dual connectivity with dual links for the terminal/UE).
Regarding claim 4, 26, ZENG modified JIA modified by LATHEEF discloses method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining one of: the first audio channel on the first QoS flow, or the second audio channel on the second QoS flow, based at least in part on determining that the other one of the first audio channel or the second audio channel has degraded or dropped (JIA: ¶109-110, ¶261, based on determining that first channel is of a weak quality or fails, the other channel (auxiliary channel) is maintained ).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZENG modified JIA would have been motivated to use the teachings of LATHEEF as it provides a way to improve the reliability by having same audio data on multiple links. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZENG modified JIA with teachings of LATHEEF in order to improve reliable communication.
Regarding claim 5, ZENG discloses method of wireless communication performed by a base station, comprising:
transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), an indication that multiple audio channels are to be established over separate multiple quality of service (QoS) flows (ZENG: Fig. 5, ¶141, ¶180, ¶177, ¶147, ¶202, ¶206, ¶208, ¶347, ¶152, M is integer greater than 1; receiving indication a2 including information a2” which indicates to the receiving device i.e. UE, that the M number of QoS flows are associated and separate from each other; the association is that the dual channels are related and are to be established for audio); and
establishing a first audio channel of the multiple audio channels over a first QoS flow for the UE and a second audio channel of the multiple audio channels over a second QoS flow for the UE (ZENG: ¶3, ¶177, ¶180, ¶147, ¶152, ¶160-161, ¶211-214, M QoS flows are established based on the information in the a2 indication information).
ZENG remains silent regarding the multiple audio channels being dual audio channels.
However, JIA et al (US 20230132875) discloses the multiple audio channels being dual audio channels (JIA: ¶108, ¶226, dual channels are established for audio communication between at least the core and a UE) .
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZENG would have been motivated to use the teachings of JIA as it provides a way to improve the reliability by having same audio data on multiple links. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZENG with teachings of JIA in order to improve reliable communication.
ZENG modified by JIA does not explicitly disclose that each of the QoS flows is independent.
However, LATHEEF et al (US 2021/0259051) discloses each of the QoS flows is independent (LATHEEF: ¶104, multiple flows are independent with respect to their associated QoS).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZENG and JIA would have been motivated to use the teachings of LATHEEF as it provides ease of management of QoS guarantees based on QFIs. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZENG and JIA with teachings of LATHEEF in order to enhance ease of QoS flow guarantees management and delivery.
Regarding claim 6, ZENG modified JIA modified by LATHEEF discloses method of claim 5, wherein the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow are associated with dual connectivity for the UE (ZENG: ¶240, dual connectivity scenario; JIA: ¶108, dual connectivity with dual links for the terminal/UE).
Regarding claim 7, ZENG modified JIA modified by LATHEEF discloses method of claim 6, further comprising assigning the first QoS flow to a master node of a primary cell and the second QoS flow to a secondary node of a primary secondary cell or secondary cell (JIA: Fig. 3, ¶108, primary network device with primary cell and secondary network device).
Regarding claim 9, ZENG modified JIA modified by LATHEEF discloses method of claim 5, further comprising scheduling the first QoS flow with a first 5G QoS identifier (5QI) and the second QoS flow with a second 5QI (ZENG: ¶160, ¶142, the scheduling is based on priority indicated by the 5QI).
Regarding claim 10, ZENG modified JIA modified by LATHEEF discloses method of claim 5, further comprising maintaining one of: the first audio channel on the first QoS flow, or the second audio channel on the second QoS flow, based at least in part on determining that the other one of the first audio channel or the second audio channel has degraded or dropped (JIA: ¶109-110, ¶261, based on determining that first channel is of a weak quality or fails, the other channel (auxiliary channel) is maintained).
Regarding claim 11, ZENG method of wireless communication performed by a network entity, comprising:
determining that dual audio channels are to be established over separate multiple quality of service (QoS) flows for a user equipment (UE) (ZENG: Fig. 6 and Fig. 7, ¶174, ¶178, the core network element sends instructions to the network device/base station; Fig. 5, ¶141, ¶180, ¶177, ¶147, ¶202, ¶206, ¶208, ¶347, ¶152, M is integer greater than 1; receiving indication a2 including information a2” which indicates to the receiving device i.e. UE, that the M number of QoS flows are associated and separate from each other; the association is that the dual channels are related and are to be established for audio); and
transmitting, to a base station, an instruction to establish a first audio channel of the multiple audio channels over a first QoS flow for the UE and a second audio channel of the multiple audio channels over a second QoS flow for the UE (ZENG: ¶3, ¶177, ¶180, ¶147, ¶152, ¶160-161, ¶211-214, M QoS flows are established based on the information in the a2 indication information).
ZENG remains silent regarding the multiple audio channels being dual audio channels.
However, JIA et al (US 20230132875) discloses the multiple audio channels being dual audio channels (JIA: ¶108, ¶226, dual channels are established for audio communication between at least the core and a UE) .
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZENG would have been motivated to use the teachings of JIA as it provides a way to improve the reliability by having same audio data on multiple links. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZENG with teachings of JIA in order to improve reliable communication.
ZENG modified by JIA does not explicitly disclose that each of the QoS flows is independent.
However, LATHEEF et al (US 2021/0259051) discloses each of the QoS flows is independent (LATHEEF: ¶104, multiple flows are independent with respect to their associated QoS).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZENG and JIA would have been motivated to use the teachings of LATHEEF as it provides ease of management of QoS guarantees based on QFIs. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZENG and JIA with teachings of LATHEEF in order to enhance ease of QoS flow guarantees management and delivery.
Regarding claim 12, ZENG modified JIA modified by LATHEEF discloses method of claim 11, wherein the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow are associated with dual connectivity for the UE (ZENG: ¶240, dual connectivity scenario; JIA: ¶108, dual connectivity with dual links for the terminal/UE).
Claim(s) 3, 8, 13, 25, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZENG modified by JIA modified by LATHEEF as applied to claim 1/5 above, further in view of UMEMURA et al (US 2017/0111932).
Regarding claim 3, 25, 13, ZENG modified JIA modified by LATHEEF discloses method of claim 1/14/11, wherein the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow are associated with the UE (ZENG: ¶201, more serving cells serve plurality of QoS flows).
ZENG modified by JIA modified by LATHEEF remains silent regarding association comprises carrier aggregation for the UE.
However, UMEMURA et al (US 2017/0111932) discloses association comprises carrier aggregation for the UE (UMEMURA: ¶76, a multiple cell/carriers of the cell are aggregated to provide the service to the UE).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZENG modified by JIA modified by LATHEEF would have been motivated to use the teachings of UMEMURA as it provides higher bit rate by combining the resources in the channel domain. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZENG modified by JIA modified by LATHEEF with teachings of UMEMURA in order to improve bit rate and resource management flexibility.
Regarding claim 8, ZENG modified JIA modified by LATHEEF discloses method of claim 5, wherein the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow are associated with the UE (ZENG: ¶201, more serving cells are aggregated to serve plurality of QoS flows).
ZENG modified by JIA modified by LATHEEF remains silent regarding association comprises carrier aggregation for the UE.
However, UMEMURA et al (US 2017/0111932) discloses association comprises carrier aggregation for the UE (UMEMURA: ¶76, a multiple cell/carriers of the cell are aggregated to provide the service to the UE).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZENG modified by JIA modified by LATHEEF would have been motivated to use the teachings of UMEMURA as it provides higher bit rate by combining the resources in the channel domain. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZENG modified by JIA modified by LATHEEF with teachings of UMEMURA in order to improve bit rate and resource management flexibility.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 1/5/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicants argue,
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Examiner respectfully disagrees with the above arguments. Applicants take a position that DING does not disclose QoS flows that are independent of each other. Examiner respectfully submits that claims remains silent regarding specifics of in what way or to what degree the QoS flows are independent. Although the QoS flows of the set are disclosed to be associated with a session, they still are separate flows.
[0160] The first type indicates to transmit, based on priorities of the plurality of QoS flows in the synchronization QoS flow set, data packets that are in the plurality of QoS flows and that belong to a same burst. In other words, a per-burst (per-burst) data packet in the plurality of QoS flows is scheduled based on the priorities of the plurality of QoS flows. In this case, the plurality of QoS flows in the synchronization QoS flow set may be mapped to different DRBs. For example, each QoS flow in the synchronization QoS flow set may exclusively occupy one DRB, and is not mapped to a same DRB with any other QoS flow. Alternatively, the plurality of QoS flows in the synchronization QoS flow set may be mapped to different logical channels. For example, each QoS flow in the synchronization QoS flow set may exclusively occupy one logical channel, and is not mapped to a same logical channel with any other QoS flow. In an example, the plurality of QoS flows in the synchronization QoS flow set may be mapped to different logical channels of different DRBs, or may be mapped to different logical channels of a same DRB. In embodiments of this application, data transmission of a QoS flow with a high priority can be preferentially ensured in a scheduling manner corresponding to the first type.
[0170] For example, the communication method provided in embodiments of this application may include: A network device receives indication information. The indication information indicates that there is an association relationship between M QoS flows. The network device may further process the M QoS flows based on the indication information. In this manner, when processing the M QoS flows, the network device considers the association relationship between the M QoS flows, to help satisfy a synchronization requirement between different data flows.
In the above section, ZENG discloses each of the QoS flow is mapped to a different channel and they are “M” number of separate QoS flows. That is, separate from each other on different channels.
ZENG or JIA does not explicitly disclose that each of the QoS flows are independent.
However, newly cited reference, LATHEEF discloses each of the QoS flows is independent (LATHEEF: ¶104, multiple flows are independent with respect to their associated QoS).
Claim remains silent regarding, in what regard the QoS flows are independent. LATHEEF discloses the QoS flows independent with respect to different QoS’s they are associated with. The control of the flows is independent as the QoS’s are independent. Since claims are silent regarding how independent, the flows are, a person of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably interpret flows, managed based on their independent associated QoS’s, as independent flows.
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZENG and JIA would have been motivated to use the teachings of LATHEEF as it provides ease of management of QoS guarantees based on QFIs. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZENG and JIA with teachings of LATHEEF in order to enhance ease of QoS flow guarantees management and delivery.
All arguments are based on the arguments addressed above and are, therefore, fully responded to as above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMER S MIAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7524. The examiner can normally be reached M,T,W,Th: 10a-7p, Fri, 9a-12p.
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OMER S. MIAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2461
/OMER S MIAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461