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 .
This office action is in response to the amendment filed 08/12/2026.
Claims 1, 4-9, 11, 13-15, 17, 20 are pending.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. CHINA 202010814626.1, filed on 08/13/2020.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 4-8, 9, 11, 13-14, 15, 17, 20 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
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4-7, 15, 17 , 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung et al. ( US 20140112236, hereinafter, Jung’s 236 ) in view of RYU et al. ( US 20210211960, hereinafter, RYU’s 960 ).
Regarding to the claim 1, Jung’s 236 teaches a communication method, applied to a scenario wherein a terminal device is moving from a source access network device to a target access network device and performing a multicast service, the method comprising:
obtaining, by the target access network device ( target BS) [see Paragraph 0084 ] or a chip in the target access network device, reference information ( obtained by the target BS the information regarding the MBMS after handover by the UE is completed or before handover by the UE completed ) [see Paragraph 0084] of the multicast service ;
wherein the reference information comprises area information, and the area information corresponds to a sub-service area of the multicast service ( wherein the reference information comprises MBMS area , MBSFN area 1, MBSFN area 2 ) [see Figure 6 and paragraph 0071 & 0077 ];
determining, by the target access network device or the chip in the target access network device, based on the location information of the target access network device , that the target access network device is located with the sub-service area (MBSFN area 1, MBSFN area 2, geographically localized) [see Figure 6 and paragraph 0071];
in response to the target access network device being located within the sub-service area (MBSFN area 1, MBSFN area 2, geographically localized) [see Figure 6 and paragraph 0071].
However, Jung’s 236 does not explicitly teach information about a forwarding path.
US 20210211960, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, teaches sending, by the target access device or the chip in the target access network device, information about a forwarding path based on the reference information, wherein the forwarding path is used for the target access network device or the chip in the target access network device receiving data of the multicast service ( [0497] Further, the SM message may further include a handover type, forwarding path information, target gNB ID & address, and so on.) [see Paragraph 0497 ] .
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the system of Jung’s 236 in view of RYU’s 960 because RYU’s 960 suggests that a method for performing handover of a User Equipment (UE) performed by a source Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) that includes a processor, a memory and a communication module in a wireless communication system may include receiving a Handover Required message from a source Radio Access Network (RAN), wherein the Handover Required message includes a PDU session ID of an activated Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session; and transmitting a Session Management (SM) message to a Session Management Function (SMF) associated for each PDU session indicated by the received PDU session ID.
Regarding to the claim 4, Jung’s 236 further teaches wherein the location information comprises a cell identifier (Cell A, Cell B, Cell C…) [see Figure 6 and paragraph 0071].
Regarding to the claim 5, Jung’s 236 and RYU’s 960 teach the limitations of the claim 1 above.
However, Jung’s 236 does not explicitly teach wherein the information about the forwarding path is carried in a message comprising the reference information.
RYU’s 960, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, teaches wherein the information about the forwarding path is carried in a message comprising the reference information (wherein the information about the forwarding path is carried in a message comprising the reference information) [see Paragraphs 0161 & 0497 ] .
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the system of Jung’s 236 in view of RYU’s 960 because RYU’s 960 suggests that the rapid growth of mobile communications and advances in technology have led to greater demand for capacity and connectivity. Other aspects, such as energy consumption, device cost, spectral efficiency, and latency are also important to meeting the needs of various communication scenarios.
Regarding to the claim 6, Jung’s 236 and RYU’s 960 teach the limitations of the claim 1 above.
However, Jung’s 236 does not explicitly teach wherein the information about the forwarding path is carried in a message comprising the reference information.
RYU’s 960, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, teaches wherein the information about the forwarding path is carried in a message comprising the reference information (wherein the information about the forwarding path is carried in a message comprising the reference information) [see Paragraph 0497 ] .
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the system of Jung’s 236 in view of RYU’s 960 because RYU’s 960 suggests that the rapid growth of mobile communications and advances in technology have led to greater demand for capacity and connectivity. Other aspects, such as energy consumption, device cost, spectral efficiency, and latency are also important to meeting the needs of various communication scenarios.
Regarding to the claim 7, Jung’s 236 and RYU’s 960 teach the limitations of the claim 1 above.
However, Jung’s 236 does not explicitly teach wherein the receiving, by the target access network device or the chip in the target access network device, the reference information comprises: receiving, by the target access network device, the reference information from the source access network device.
RYU’s 960 , from the same or similar fields of endeavor, teaches wherein the receiving, by the target access network device or the chip in the target access network device, the reference information comprises: receiving, by the target access network device, the reference information from the source access network device ( wherein the receiving, by the target access network device or the chip in the target access network device, the reference information comprises: receiving, by the target access network device, the reference information from the source access network device) [see Paragraph 0147 ] .
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the system of Jung’s 236 in view of RYU’s 960 because RYU’s 960 suggests that the rapid growth of mobile communications and advances in technology have led to greater demand for capacity and connectivity. Other aspects, such as energy consumption, device cost, spectral efficiency, and latency are also important to meeting the needs of various communication scenarios.
Regarding to the claim 15, Jung’s 236 teaches a communication apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and a memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the communication apparatus to:
Obtain reference information ( obtained by the target BS the information regarding the MBMS after handover by the UE is completed or before handover by the UE completed ) [see Paragraph 0084] of the multicast service ;
wherein the reference information comprises area information, and the area information corresponds to a sub-service area of the multicast service ( wherein the reference information comprises MBMS area , MBSFN area 1, MBSFN area 2 ) [see Figure 6 and paragraph 0071 & 0077 ];
determining that the communication apparatus is located with the sub-service area based on the location information of the communication apparatus (MBSFN area 1, MBSFN area 2, geographically localized) [see Figure 6 and paragraph 0071];
in response to the communication apparatus being located within the sub-service area (MBSFN area 1, MBSFN area 2, geographically localized) [see Figure 6 and paragraph 0071].
However, Jung’s 236 does not explicitly teach information about a forwarding path.
US 20210211960, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, teaches sending, , information about a forwarding path based on the reference information, wherein the forwarding path is used for the communication apparatus receiving data of the multicast service ( [0497] Further, the SM message may further include a handover type, forwarding path information, target gNB ID & address, and so on.) [see Paragraph 0497 ] .
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the system of Jung’s 236 in view of RYU’s 960 because RYU’s 960 suggests that a method for performing handover of a User Equipment (UE) performed by a source Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) that includes a processor, a memory and a communication module in a wireless communication system may include receiving a Handover Required message from a source Radio Access Network (RAN), wherein the Handover Required message includes a PDU session ID of an activated Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session; and transmitting a Session Management (SM) message to a Session Management Function (SMF) associated for each PDU session indicated by the received PDU session ID.
Regarding to the claim 17, Jung’s 236 teaches a communication system, comprising:
A source access device (Source BS) [see Figure 1];
A target access device (Target BS) [see Figure 1];
Wherein
The target access device (Target BS) is configured to:
obtain reference information of a multicast service, wherein the reference information comprises area information ( obtained by the target BS the information regarding the MBMS after handover by the UE is completed or before handover by the UE completed ) [see Paragraph 0084], and the area information corresponds to a sub-service area of the multicast service ( wherein the reference information comprises MBMS area , MBSFN area 1, MBSFN area 2 ) [see Figure 6 and paragraph 0071 & 0077 ];
in response to the target access network device being located within the sub- service area [see Figure 6 and paragraph 0071];
the source access network device (Source BS) [see Figure 1] is configured to:
receive the information about the forwarding path (X2) [see Figure 1 and Paragraph 0084] ] ;
obtain the reference information of the multicast service [see Paragraph 0084] ; and
send the data of the multicast service to the target access network device based on the reference information through the forwarding path (sending the data of the multicast service to the Target BS based on the reference information through the X2) [see Figure 1] [also see the paragraph 0084].
However, Jung’s 236 does not explicitly teach information about a forwarding path.
RYU’s 960, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, teaches send information about a forwarding path based on the reference information, wherein the forwarding path is used by the target access network device to receive data of the multicast service [see Paragraph 0497] .
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the system of Jung’s 236 in view of RYU’s 960 because RYU’s 960 suggests that a method for performing handover of a User Equipment (UE) performed by a source Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) that includes a processor, a memory and a communication module in a wireless communication system may include receiving a Handover Required message from a source Radio Access Network (RAN), wherein the Handover Required message includes a PDU session ID of an activated Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session; and transmitting a Session Management (SM) message to a Session Management Function (SMF) associated for each PDU session indicated by the received PDU session ID.
Regarding to the claim 20, Jung’s 236 and RYU’s 960 teach the limitations of the claim 17 above.
However, Jung’s 236 does not explicitly teach wherein the source access network device receives the information about the forwarding path from the target access network device.
RYU’s 960, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, teaches wherein the source access network device receives the information about the forwarding path from the target access network device [see paragraph 0497].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the system of Jung’s 236 in view of RYU’s 960 because RYU’s 960 suggests that a method for performing handover of a User Equipment (UE) performed by a source Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) that includes a processor, a memory and a communication module in a wireless communication system may include receiving a Handover Required message from a source Radio Access Network (RAN), wherein the Handover Required message includes a PDU session ID of an activated Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session; and transmitting a Session Management (SM) message to a Session Management Function (SMF) associated for each PDU session indicated by the received PDU session ID.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung et al. ( US 20140112236, hereinafter, Jung’s 236 ) in view of RYU et al. ( US 20210211960, hereinafter, RYU’s 960 ) and further in view of Li et al. ( US 20230345310, Provisional Application No. 62975858 ).
Regarding to the claim 8, Jung’s 236 and RYU’s 960 teach the limitations of the claim 1 above.
However, Jung’s 236 does not explicitly teach wherein the reference information is carried in a message comprising identification information of a multicast session management network element, and the method further comprises: sending, by the target access network device or the chip in the target access network device, channel information to the multicast session management network element, wherein the channel information is used for a multicast user plane network element sending data of the multicast service to the target access network device.\
( US 20230345310, Provisional Application No. 62975858 ), from the same or similar fields of endeavor, teaches wherein the reference information is carried in a message comprising identification information of a multicast session management network element, and the method further comprises: sending, by the target access network device or the chip in the target access network device, channel information to the multicast session management network element, wherein the channel information is used for a multicast user plane network element sending data of the multicast service to the target access network device [see Figure 7a and paragraph 0137 ] [also see the paragraphs 0193-0197]
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combined system (Jung’s 236 and RYU’s 960 ), and further in view of US 20230345310 because US 20230345310 suggests that It may be more efficient to base the decision to switch between unicast and multi-cast on information that is not necessarily available at the application layer (e.g. RAN conditions, the number of devices that receiving the content, the location of the devices that are receiving the content, etc.).
Claim(s) 9, 11, 13, 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung et al. ( US 20140112236, hereinafter, Jung’s 236 ) in view of RYU et al. ( US 20210211960, hereinafter, RYU’s 960 ).
Regarding to the claim 9, Jung’s 236 teaches obtaining, by the source access network device or the chip in the source access network device, the reference information of the multicast service ( obtained by the target BS the information regarding the MBMS after handover by the UE is completed or before handover by the UE completed ) [see paragraph 0084 ];
determining, by the source access network device based on the reference information, that the target access network device is located within a sub-service area of the multicast service to which the source access network device or the chip in the source access network device belongs (MBSFN area 1, MBSFN area 2, geographically localized) [see Figure 6 and paragraph 0071];
However, Jung’s 236 does not explicitly teach the forwarding path.
RYU’s 960, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, teaches receiving, by the source access network device or a chip in the source access network device, information about a forwarding path, wherein the information about the forwarding path is based on reference information of the multicast service [see Paragraph 0497];
sending, by the source access network device or the chip in the source access network device, data of the multicast service to the target access network device based on the reference information through the forwarding path ( [0497] Further, the SM message may further include a handover type, forwarding path information, target gNB ID & address, and so on.) [see Paragraph 0497 ] .
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the system of Jung’s 236 in view of RYU’s 960 because RYU’s 960 suggests that a method for performing handover of a User Equipment (UE) performed by a source Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) that includes a processor, a memory and a communication module in a wireless communication system may include receiving a Handover Required message from a source Radio Access Network (RAN), wherein the Handover Required message includes a PDU session ID of an activated Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session; and transmitting a Session Management (SM) message to a Session Management Function (SMF) associated for each PDU session indicated by the received PDU session ID.
Regarding to the claim 11, Jung’s 236 and RYU’s 960 teach the limitations of the claim 9 above.
However, Jung’s 236 does not explicitly teach wherein the information about the forwarding path is carried in a message comprising the reference information.
RYU’s 960, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, teaches wherein the information about the forwarding path is carried in a message comprising the reference information [see Paragraph 0497].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the system of Jung’s 236 in view of RYU’s 960 because RYU’s 960 suggests that a method for performing handover of a User Equipment (UE) performed by a source Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) that includes a processor, a memory and a communication module in a wireless communication system may include receiving a Handover Required message from a source Radio Access Network (RAN), wherein the Handover Required message includes a PDU session ID of an activated Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session; and transmitting a Session Management (SM) message to a Session Management Function (SMF) associated for each PDU session indicated by the received PDU session ID.
Regarding to the claim 13, Jung’s 236 further teaches sending, by the source access network device or the chip in the source access network device, the reference information ( obtained by the target BS the information regarding the MBMS after handover by the UE is completed or before handover by the UE completed ) [see Paragraph 0084].
Regarding to the claim 14, Jung’s 236 further teaches wherein the sending, by the source access network device or the chip in the source access network device, the reference information comprises: sending, by the source access network device, the reference information to the target access network device ( obtained by the target BS the information regarding the MBMS after handover by the UE is completed or before handover by the UE completed ) [see Paragraph 0084].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHUONG T HO whose telephone number is (571)272-3133. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30-4:00.
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/CHUONG T HO/Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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