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 .
Priorities and Examiner Remarks
This application claims foreign priority to application of REPUBLIC OF KOREA: 10-2022-0011554 (filed 01/26/2022).
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 05/15/2026 has been entered.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claims 21, 23-24, 29, and 31-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shi et al. (US 20250056454 A1, hereinafter Shi), in view of Non-Patent Literature 3GPP TS 23.501 V17.2.0 (2021-09) (hereinafter NPL 3GPP).
Regarding claim 21, Shi teaches a method performed by a time sensitive communications and time synchronization function (TSCTSF) entity in a wireless communication system (in general, see fig. 3-5 and corresponding paragraphs),
the method comprising:
receiving, from an application function (AF) entity, a request of subscription service for a time synchronization status for at least one user equipment (UE), wherein the request includes a sync error budget (Shi, see at least para. 114, “...3GPP TS 23.501 (v17.2.0) section 5.27.1.9 specifies that the AF may request to use the 5G access stratum (AS) as a time synchronization distribution method and it may include time synchronization error budget in the request. If the AF includes a time synchronization error budget, the TSCTSF uses this information to derive an error budget available for the NG-RAN to provide the 5GS AS time to each targeted UE via the Uu interface (referred to as Uu time synchronization error budget hereafter)...”);
identifying whether the TSCTSF supports a time synchronization service based on the request of the AF entity (Shi, see at least para. 115-118, “...The TSCTSF takes the following into account when deriving the Uu time synchronization error budget: selected time synchronization distribution method (5G AS time distribution or (g) PTP based time distribution); whether 5GS operates as a boundary clock and acts as a GM or whether a clock connected to DS-TT/NW-TT acts as GM in case of (g) PTP based time distribution; PTP port states in case of (g) PTP based time distribution; and CN and Device parts of the time synchronization error budget (which may be predefined, or calculated by the 5GS by means that are based on implementation).
Shi does not explicitly teach transmitting, to the AF entity, a notification for an update of the time synchronization status in case that the time synchronization status is updated.
NPL 3GPP teaches transmitting, to the AF entity, a notification for an update of the time synchronization status in case that the time synchronization status is updated (see sections 5.27.1.8 and 5.27.1.9, in particular, see page 301 lines 18-33, for one example, but not limited to, “...The PCF acknowledges the policy request to the TSCTSF. The TSCTSF may report the result of the time synchronization request to the AF (directly or via NEF)...”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate NPL 3GPP into Shi to effectively achieve standardization for timing synchronization.
Regarding claim 23, Shi in view of NPL 3GPP teaches claim 21.
Shi further teaches wherein information on a clock accuracy for the time synchronization status is transmitted to the at least one UE. (Shi, see at least para. 7 and 86 along with fig. 5, “...a 5G network (e.g., NG-RAN and 5GC) should be capable of delivering highly accurate timing information from an external TSN network to TSN endpoints connected to the 5G network, e.g., via UEs. For example, a UE can acquire 5G reference time by estimating a system frame number (SFN) boundary based on receiving network-transmitted reference signals (RS) and then updating its time based on network-provided timing information that relates the SFN boundary to 5G system clock (5GSC) time...”)
Regarding claim 24, Shi in view of NPL 3GPP teaches claim 21.
Shi in view of NPL 3GPP further teaches wherein the notification is transmitted by using control plane signaling. (Shi, see at least para. 72-73 and fig. 3, “...FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary division of the 5G network architecture into control plane (CP) and data (or user) plane (UP) functionality. ... CP functions shown in FIG. 3 include an access management function (AMF), a session management function (SMF), a network exposure function (NEF), a policy control function (PCF),...”; NPL 3GPP, see page 301 lines 18-33, “...The TSCTSF may report the result of the time synchronization request to the AF (directly or via NEF)...”, in other words, communications between AF and TSCTSF via control plane signaling)
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate NPL 3GPP into Shi to effectively achieve standardization for timing synchronization.
Regarding claims 29, 31, and 32, these claims are rejected for the same reasoning as claims 21, 23, and 24, respectively, except each of these claims is in apparatus claim format.
Claims 25-27, and 33-35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shi in view of NPL 3GPP, and further in view of Antonino ORSINO (US 2023/0217386 A1, hereinafter ORSINO)
Regarding claim 25, Shi in view of NPL 3GPP teaches claim 23.
Shi further teaches the information is transmitted by using an RRC signaling (Shi, see at least para. 7 and 86 along with fig. 5, “...The gNB can broadcast the reference time message in system information block 9 (SIB9) or send it to individual UEs, as a unicast RRC message...”).
Shi does not teach in case that the at least one UE is in a radio resource control (RRC) connected state [, the information is transmitted by using an RRC signaling].
ORSINO teaches in case that the at least one UE is in a radio resource control (RRC) connected state [, the information is transmitted by using an RRC signaling]. (ORSINO, see at least para. 42 and 60, “...In another embodiment, upon receiving the request for the SIB containing 5G time reference information, the base station 155 decides to broadcast the requested SIB without the related field for 5G time reference information and to send the related fields for 5G time reference information (and not the whole SIB) to the UE 160 via dedicated signaling. The dedicated message may comprise an RRC message...”; note that para. 42 discloses that “...For the case of UEs 160 in RRC_CONNECTED state, only certain SIBs can be requested on-demand and the granularity is per SIB. In order to do so, the UE 160 sends a DedicatedSIBRequest message with the requested SIBs and the network may choose to broadcast them or to send them via dedicated signaling in the RRC reconfiguration message...”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate ORSINO into Shi in view of NPL 3GPP for effectively meeting QoS requirements for time-sensitive communications (TSC).
Regarding claim 26, Shi in view of NPL 3GPP teaches claim 23.
Shi further teaches the information is included in a system information block (SIB) (Shi, see at least para. 7 and 86 along with fig. 5, “...The gNB can broadcast the reference time message in system information block 9 (SIB9) or send it to individual UEs, as a unicast RRC message...”).
Shi does not teach in case that the at least one UE is in an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state, the information is included in a system information block (SIB).
ORSINO teaches in case that the at least one UE is in an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state, the information is included in a system information block (SIB). (ORSINO, see at least para. 43 and 59, “...In one embodiment, upon receiving an on-demand request for SIB(s) that include 5G time reference information, the base station 155 sends the requested SIB and includes the related 5G time reference information via broadcast....”; note that para. 43 discloses that “...While the UE 160 in RRC Idle mode or RRC Inactive mode can request SIB9 using existing procedures...”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate ORSINO into Shi in view of NPL 3GPP for effectively meeting QoS requirements for time-sensitive communications (TSC).
Regarding claim 27, Shi in view of NPL 3GPP and ORSINO teaches claim 26.
Shi in view of NPL 3GPP does not teach wherein the at least one UE is reconnected to a network based on the SIB.
ORSINO teaches wherein the at least one UE is reconnected to a network based on the SIB (ORSINO, see at least para. 36, e.g. “…The UE 160 may use the parameters provided in SIB9 to obtain the UTC, the GPS time and the local time. The UE 160 may use the time information for numerous purposes, possibly involving upper layers, e.g., to assist GPS initialization, to synchronize the UE 160 clock…”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate ORSINO into Shi in view of NPL 3GPP for effectively meeting QoS requirements for time-sensitive communications (TSC).
Regarding claims 33, 34, and 35, these claims are rejected for the same reasoning as claims 25, 26, and 27, respectively, except each of these claims is in apparatus claim format.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 05/15/2026 have been fully considered. Regarding independent claims 21 and 29, since applicant's amendment necessitated new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action, previous Office action's rejections are moot. Accordingly, corresponding dependent claims have also been rejected in this Office action.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YEE F LAM whose telephone number is (571)270-7577. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayman Abaza can be reached on 571-270-0422. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/YEE F LAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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