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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 12/31/2025 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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-8, 10-13, 15-18 and 20-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gan et al. (US 2024/0314523; hereinafter Gan) in view of Godin (US 2024/0073649) in further view of Ge et al. (US 2024/0206010) and Jia et al. (US 2023/0188949).
Regarding claim 1, Gan teaches a method performed by a session management function (SMF) entity (Fig. 2, Paragraph [0075] Describes the existence and operation of the SMF entity as a functional component in the 5G network architecture),
the method comprising: receiving, from an access and mobility management function (AMF) entity, a protocol data unit (PDU) session update request message for activating a PDU session (Paragraphs [0075]-[0077]; [0122]-[0123] Describes that the SMF receive a request from the AMF to activate the PDU session for the MBS),
wherein the PDU session update request message includes an identity (ID) of the PDU session (Paragraphs [0122]-[0123] describes the SMF receiving a PDU session update request from the AMF for activating a PDU session and this request carries the PDU Session ID );
and transmitting, to the AMF entity, a PDU session update response message including multicast broadcast service (MBS) session information (Paragraphs [0124]-[0125] describes the SMF transmits, to the AMF, a PDU session update response message containing N2 session management information including an MBS session Identifier (ID) and QoS profiles associated with the MBS session),
Gan doesn’t teach wherein, in case that an MBS session associated with the PDU session is in an inactive state, the MBS session information indicates the MBS session is in the inactive state, wherein, in case that the MBS session is in an active state, the MBS session information including first information on an ID of the MBS session in the active state indicates a user equipment (UE) joined the MBS session, and wherein information on the PDU session to be activated is included in a service request associated with the UE in an idle state in which connections of PDU sessions of the UE are deactivated.
Godin teaches wherein, in case that an MBS session associated with the PDU session is in an inactive state, the MBS session information indicates the MBS session is in the inactive state (Paragraph [0114] describes the SMF evaluating whether MBS-associated PDU sessions are in an inactive state),
Godin doesn’t teach wherein, in case that the MBS session is in an active state, the MBS session information including first information on an ID of the MBS session in the active state indicates a user equipment (UE) joined the MBS session,
Ge teaches wherein, in case that the MBS session is in an active state, the MBS session information including first information on an ID of the MBS session in the active state indicates a user equipment (UE) joined the MBS session (Paragraph [0405-0409] describes when status is active, the MBS session information record contains the MBS session ID and a list of UEs that have joined that MBS session),
Ge doesn’t teach and wherein information on the PDU session to be activated is included in a service request associated with the UE in an idle state in which connections of PDU sessions of the UE are deactivated.
Jia teaches and wherein information on the PDU session to be activated is included in a service request associated with the UE in an idle state in which connections of PDU sessions of the UE are deactivated (Paragraph [0251] describes CM-IDLE UE paging with PDU session ID, UE finds PDU session deactivated, UE initiates service request to activate PDU session).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Gan’s method of the MBS session context structure and state information that needs to be tracked and Godin’s method of inactive state management and Ge to incorporate the teaching of Jia’s the UE transmit a service request message containing both the MBS session ID and information identifying the PDU session associated with that MBS session to improve the usage efficiency of the network resources and the flexibility of the network (Jia, Paragraph [0008]).
Regarding claim 2, Gan in view of Godin in further view Ge and Jia, Ge teaches wherein the service request is associated with an expiration of a timer for the service request (Paragraphs [0628]-[ 0630] describes the timer expiration is associated with the successful completion of service requests, as the AS waits for the timer to expire before determining that UEs have completed their service requests and are ready to receive MBS data).
Regarding claim 3, Gan in view of Godin in further view Ge and Jia, Jia teaches wherein the MBS session information further includes second information on an ID of a unicast quality of service (QoS) flow mapped with an MBS QoS flow in the MBS session (Paragraphs [0046]-[0047]; [0217] describes MBS information package includes mapping information that shows which unicast QoS flows correspond to which MBS QoS flows).
Regarding claim 5, Gan in view of Godin in further view Ge, Jia, Jia teaches wherein the idle state is based on an access network (AN) release (Paragraphs [0020]; [0365] disclose that the UE transitioning to idle state as a result of a release initiated by the access network).
Regarding claim 6, Gan in view of Godin in further view Ge and Jia, Gan teaches a session management function (SMF) entity comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory, communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, storing instructions executable by the at least one processor individually or in any combination to cause the SMF entity to (Fig. 6, element 621 shows a processor (controller), element 623 shows a transmitter/receiver (transceiver)):
Gan teaches receive, from an access and mobility management function (AMF) entity, a protocol data unit (PDU) session update request message for activating a PDU session (Paragraphs [0075]-[0077]; [0122]-[0123] describes that the SMF receive a request from the AMF to activate the PDU session for the MBS),
Gan teaches wherein the PDU session update request message includes an identity (ID) of the PDU session (Paragraphs [0122]-[0123] describes the SMF receiving a PDU session update request from the AMF for activating a PDU session and this request carries the PDU Session ID),
Gan teaches and transmit, to the AMF entity, a PDU session update response message including multicast broadcast service (MBS) session information (Paragraphs [0124]-[0125] describes the SMF transmits, to the AMF, a PDU session update response message containing N2 session management information including an MBS session Identifier (ID) and QoS profiles associated with the MBS session),
Gan doesn’t teach wherein, in case that an MBS session associated with the PDU session is in an inactive state, the MBS session information indicates the MBS session is in the inactive state, wherein, in case that the MBS session is in an active state, the MBS session information including first information on an ID of the MBS session in the active state indicates a user equipment (UE) joined the MBS session, and wherein information on the PDU session to be activated is included in a service request associated with the UE in an idle state in which connections of PDU sessions of the UE are deactivated.
Godin teaches wherein, in case that an MBS session associated with the PDU session is in an inactive state, the MBS session information indicates the MBS session is in the inactive state (Paragraph [0114] describes the SMF evaluating whether MBS-associated PDU sessions are in an inactive state),
Godin doesn’t teach wherein, in case that the MBS session is in an active state, the MBS session information including first information on an ID of the MBS session in the active state indicates a user equipment (UE) joined the MBS session,
Ge teaches wherein, in case that the MBS session is in an active state, the MBS session information including first information on an ID of the MBS session in the active state indicates a user equipment (UE) joined the MBS session (Paragraph [0405-0409] describes when status is active, the MBS session information record contains the MBS session ID and a list of UEs that have joined that MBS session),
Ge doesn’t teach and wherein information on the PDU session to be activated is included in a service request associated with the UE in an idle state in which connections of PDU sessions of the UE are deactivated.
Jia teaches and wherein information on the PDU session to be activated is included in a service request associated with the UE in an idle state in which connections of PDU sessions of the UE are deactivated (Paragraph [0251] describes CM-IDLE UE paging with PDU session ID, UE finds PDU session deactivated, UE initiates service request to activate PDU session).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Gan in view of Godin in further view Ge into the combination of Jia for the same reason as claim 1 above.
Claims 7, 12 and 17 are rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 2 respectively.
Claims 8, 13 and 18 are rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 3 respectively.
Claims 10, 15, and 20 are rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 5 respectively.
Claims 11 and 16 are rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 6 respectively.
Claim 22 is rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 21 respectively.
Conclusion
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/Chandrahas B Patel/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464
/M.W.K./Examiner, Art Unit 2464