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 allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). 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 4/13/2026 has been entered.
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because it includes other text. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
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) 1-2, 4-5, 9-10, 12-13, 16-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eklof [US 2023/0284058] in view of Eklof [US 2023/0300691].
As claims 1, 9 and 12, Eklof [US 2023/0284058] discloses a method for changing a secondary node, performed by a master node [Fig 11, Ref 1120] in multi-connectivity in a wireless communication system, comprising transmitting, to a target secondary node, a secondary node (SN) addition request message including packet data unit (PDU) session identification information [Fig 11, Ref 1, SN addition request which includes session ID see table 1-3, Par 0133]; receiving, from the target secondary node, an SN addition request acknowledge message including information related to data forwarding [Fig 11, Ref. 2, SN Addition request Acknowledge which includes forwarding addresses of the target node, Par. 0144-0145]; transmitting, to a source secondary node, a configuration message [Fig 11, Ref 3A, MN send configuration message to configure the source secondary node to stop uplink/downlink with UE, the source secondary node forwards the data to target node wherein configuration data includes session ID, cell ID, node ID, tunnel ID and TNL address, Par. 00145, 0152, Fig 14-15, Ref 1, 0162-0163]; receiving, from the source secondary node, an SN modification message [Fig 11, Ref 3 and Fig 14-15, Ref 2, 0162-0163]; and transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message for configuring the user equipment in response to the SN modification message [Fig 11, Ref 4, Fig 14-15, Ref 3, MN send RRC connection reconfiguration to UE in response to the SN modification message], wherein the configuration message includes a transport layer address [Par. 0155, TNL], and tunnel endpoint identification information [Par. 0127]. However, Eklof [US 2023/0284058] fails to fully discloses the configuration message includes a transport layer address of a plurality of target nodes and tunnel endpoint identification information of a plurality of target nodes. In the same field of endeavor, Eklof [US 20230300691] discloses the configuration message includes a transport layer address of a plurality of target nodes and tunnel endpoint identification information of a plurality of target nodes [Par. 0330 and 0332 discloses the target nodes provides the forward addresses to MN after receiving the request from MN and MN provides the forward addresses to the source SN].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply a method and system for sending from master node to source SN a list of forwarded addresses of target nodes as disclosed by Eklof [US 20230300691] into the teaching of Eklof [US 2023/0284058]. The motivation would have been to prevent data loss.
As claims 2 and 10, Eklof [US 2023/0284058] discloses the SN addition request acknowledge message includes the PDU session identification information [Par. 0137, Session ID at table 4].
As claim 4, Eklof [US 2023/0284058] discloses a method for changing a secondary node, performed by source secondary node [Fig 11, Ref 1120] in a wireless communication system, comprising receiving, from master node, a configuration message [Fig 11, Ref 3A, MN send configuration message to configure the source secondary node to stop uplink/downlink with UE, the source secondary node forwards the data to target node wherein configuration data includes session ID, cell ID, node ID, tunnel ID and TNL address, Par. 00145, 0152, Fig 14-15, Ref 1, 0162-0163]; transmitting, from the master node, an SN modification message [Fig 11, Ref 3 and Fig 14-15, Ref 2, 0162-0163]; wherein the configuration message includes a transport layer address [Par. 0155, TNL], and tunnel endpoint identification information [Par. 0127]. However, Eklof [US 2023/0284058] fails to fully discloses the configuration message includes a transport layer address of a plurality of target nodes and tunnel endpoint identification information of a plurality of target nodes. In the same field of endeavor, Eklof [US 20230300691] discloses the configuration message includes a transport layer address of a plurality of target nodes and tunnel endpoint identification information of a plurality of target nodes [Par. 0330 and 0332 discloses the target nodes provides the forward addresses to MN after receiving the request from MN and MN provides the forward addresses to the source SN].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply a method and system for sending from master node to source SN a list of forwarded addresses of target nodes as disclosed by Eklof [US 20230300691] into the teaching of Eklof [US 2023/0284058]. The motivation would have been to prevent data loss.
As claims 5 and 13, Eklof [US 2023/0284058] discloses the configuration message further includes at least one of indication information of data transmission behavior [Par. 0127 and 0162] and first configuration information related to user data [Par. 0127 and 0162]; and the SN modification message further includes second configuration information related to user data [Par. 0127 and 0162].
As claims 16-19, Eklof [US 2023/0284058] discloses wherein the configuration message includes: node identification information [Par. 0150, SN ID], cell identification information [Table 12, Cell ID], the PDU session identification information [Table 1, Session ID]. However, Eklof [US 2023/0284058] fails to fully discloses the configuration message includes node identification information of the plurality of target nodes, cell identification information of the plurality of target nodes and the PDU session identification information of the plurality of target nodes. In the same field of endeavor, Eklof [US 20230300691] discloses the configuration message includes a transport layer address of a plurality of target nodes and tunnel endpoint identification information of a plurality of target nodes [Par. 0330 and 0332 discloses the target nodes provides the forward addresses to MN after receiving the request from MN and MN provides the forward addresses to the source SN].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply a method and system for sending from master node to source SN a list of forwarded addresses of target nodes as disclosed by Eklof [US 20230300691] into the teaching of Eklof [US 2023/0284058]. The motivation would have been to prevent data loss.
Claim(s) 3 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eklof [US 2023/0284058] and Eklof [US 20230300691] as applied to claims 1 and 9 above, and further in view of Hong [US 2018/0220336].
As claims 3 and 11, Eklof [US 2023/0284058] and Eklof [US 20230300691] fail to disclose what Hong [US 2018/0220336] discloses receiving, from the target secondary node, a configuration confirmation message for indicating that the user equipment has accessed the target secondary node [Fig 4-5, RA complete send from target SN to MN].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply a method and system for sending from target secondary node to master node a RA complete message to indicate UE accessed target SN as disclosed by Hong into the teaching of Eklof [US 2023/0284058] and Eklof [US 20230300691]. The motivation would have been to prevent data loss.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Teyeb [US 2021/0266991] discloses a method and system for setup split bearers.
Teyeb [US 2019/0182881] discloses a method and system for changing secondary node.
Eklof [US 2023/0292192] discloses a method and system for changing secondary node.
Xu [US 2020/0389823] discloses a method and system for changing secondary node.
Pupkayastha [US 2022/0116840] discloses a conditional change of secondary node.
Zhang [US 2015/0351139] discloses method and system for managing bearers.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN HIEU D NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-3159. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5.
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/STEVEN HIEU D NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414
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