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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to application filed on 4/15/2026.
Claims 1-8, 10-12 & 18-20 have been examined and are pending with this action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101 has been withdrawn based on amendment filed on 4/15/2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 has been withdrawn based on amendment filed on 4/15/2026.
Response to Arguments
This Applicants arguments filed in the amendments filed on 4/15/2026, have been fully considered and are moot based on new grounds of rejection as explained below.
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1-2, 5-8, & 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable of Velev et al (US 2019/0174573) in view of Talebi (US 20230328821 A1).
As per claim 1, Velev discloses a session management method (Velev: [ABS]: “to establish at least one session between the User Equipment and the Session Management Function node”), comprising:
determining, a first parameter, wherein the first parameter is used by a first network device (Velev: [0069 & Fig 7] “The SMF1 26 (First network device) retrieves session (e.g. DNN (Data Network Name)/APN-related) subscription information or dynamically generated information from the U/SDM 34”), to determine a first inactivity duration of a first quality of service (QoS) flow of a terminal device (Velev: [0071 & Fig 7] “The SMF1 26 derives or updates or modifies session parameters (e.g. QoS rules, charging rules, QoS parameters and/or multiple Inactivity timer(s)). The SMF1 26 can update or modify or newly determine session parameters at any time implicitly, i.e. without retrieval of new information from other CN CP NFs. ”),; and
sending, a first message to the first network device, wherein the first message comprises the first parameter (Velev: [0070-0071 & Fig 7] “the SMF1 26 (First network device) considers the information received from the UE 20 (The terminal device) (e.g. during a NAS SM request) and received from the CCNF 24 (e.g. the MMF) about UE capabilities or preferences & The SMF1 26 derives or updates or modifies session parameters (e.g. QoS rules, charging rules, QoS parameters and/or multiple Inactivity timer(s)).”).
Examiner Note: SMF1 26 is being interpreted as first network device and UE 20 is being interpreted as the terminal device.
Velev does not explicitly discloses second message and guaranteed flow bit rate.
Talebi however discloses sending, a second message to the first network device (Talebi: [0245] “The SMF may send to a wireless device based on the indication, a second message comprising a second indication that a first PDU session of the wireless device with the first network is an always-on PDU session.”),
the second message comprises a second parameter, the second parameter is used by the first
network device to determine a first QoS parameter of the first QoS flow. and the first QoS
parameter of the first QoS flow comprises at least one of a first guaranteed flow bit rate (GFBR),
a first maximum flow bit rate (MFBR), or a first maximum data burst volume (MDBV) of the first
QoS flow (Talebi: [0122] “The QoS profile for non-GBR QoS flows may further include additional QoS parameters such as a reflective QoS attribute (RQA). The QoS profile for GBR QoS flows may further include additional QoS parameters such as a guaranteed flow bit rate (GFBR), a maximum flow bit rate (MFBR), and/or a maximum packet loss rate.”),
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Velev view of Talebi to figure out second message and guaranteed flow bit rate. One would be motivated to do so because this technique advantageously aids in 5G communications . (Talebi).
Claim 18-20 are rejected based on rationale provided for claim 1.
As per claim 2, Velev -Talebi discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the first inactivity duration of the first QoS flow is used to determine to release the first QoS flow (Velev: [0053] “The SMF1 26 derives or updates or modifies session parameters (e.g. QoS rules, charging rules, QoS parameters and/or multiple Inactivity timer(s)). The SMF1 26 can update or modify or newly determine session parameters at any time implicitly, i.e. without retrieval of new information from other CN CP NFs. ”).
As per claim 5, Velev -Talebi discloses the method according to claim 1, further comprising :
receiving, by the terminal device, a message that is of the first network device and that comprises information about the first inactivity duration of the first QoS flow (Velev: [0071 Y&0097]: “The SMF1 26 derives or updates or modifies session parameters (e.g. QoS rules, charging rules, QoS parameters and/or multiple Inactivity timer(s)). The SMF1 26 can update or modify or newly determine session parameters at any time implicitly, i.e. without retrieval of new information from other CN CP NFs & Communication pattern for the application(s) using this PDU session=>e.g. Session Inactivity timer (for the Idle state), RAN Inactivity/Dormant timer (for the RAN Inactive/Dormant state), one or more types of UPF Inactivity timers;”).
As per claim 6, Velev -Talebi discloses the method according to claim 5, further comprising: when duration in which there is no data transmission on the first QoS flow reaches the first inactivity duration of the first QoS flow, releasing, by the terminal device, the first QoS flow (Velev: [0071 Y&0097]: “The SMF1 26 derives or updates or modifies session parameters (e.g. QoS rules, charging rules, QoS parameters and/or multiple Inactivity timer(s)). The SMF1 26 can update or modify or newly determine session parameters at any time implicitly, i.e. without retrieval of new information from other CN CP NFs & Communication pattern for the application(s) using this PDU session=>e.g. Session Inactivity timer (for the Idle state), RAN Inactivity/Dormant timer (for the RAN Inactive/Dormant state), one or more types of UPF Inactivity timers;”).
Examiner Note: Inactivity timer during a session means there is no inactivity and no data transmission occurs during that duration.
As per claim 7, Velev -Talebi discloses the method according to claim 5, further comprising : when duration in which there is no data transmission on the first QoS flow reaches the first inactivity duration of the first QoS flow, sending, by the terminal device to the first network device, a message indicating that the first QoS flow is inactive and/or requesting to release the first QoS flow; and receiving, by the terminal device from the first network device, a message indicating to release the first QoS flow (Velev: [0036 Y&0097]: “to detect inactivity of user data transfer for a session among at least one session between a User Equipment (UE) and a Session Management Function (SMF) node, for a period; and a transmitter configured to transmit, to the SMF node, information for deactivation of User Plane (UP) connection for the session based on detection of the inactivity is provided & Communication pattern for the application(s) using this PDU session=>e.g. Session Inactivity timer (for the Idle state), RAN Inactivity/Dormant timer (for the RAN Inactive/Dormant state), one or more types of UPF Inactivity timers;”).
As per claim 8, Velev -Talebi discloses the method according to claim 6, wherein the releasing, the first QoS flow comprises: deleting, by the terminal device, an association relationship between the first QoS flow and a second QoS flow, wherein the first QoS flow is used to transmit data of high importance in the service, the second QoS flow is used to transmit data of low importance in the service, and there is the association relationship between the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow (Velev: [0010 Y&0097]: “Session release: deletion of the PDU session, which means the SM context is deleted (released) in the UE and in the NG CN control plane and/or user plane.& Communication pattern for the application(s) using this PDU session=>e.g. Session Inactivity timer (for the Idle state), RAN Inactivity/Dormant timer (for the RAN Inactive/Dormant state), one or more types of UPF Inactivity timers;”).
Claims 3-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable of Velev et al (US 2019/0174573) in view of XIONG (US 2023/0062526) and in further view of Talebi (US 20230328821 A1)
As per claim 3, Velev-Talebi discloses the method according to claim 1 (Velev: [ABS]: “to establish at least one session between the User Equipment and the Session Management Function node”),
Velev does not explicitly teach frame rate information.
, wherein the first parameter is first periodicity information of a service of the terminal device; or the first parameter is second inactivity duration of the first QoS flow or second inactivity duration of the first session that is determined based on first periodicity information of a service of the terminal device (Xiong: [0053] “ the periodicity information included in the QoS parameter corresponding to the service characteristic of the interactive service data flow in the PCC rule may be a specific periodicity value”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of modified Velev in view of Xiong to figure out the periodicity information. One would be motivated to do so because this technique advantageously aids in enhancing communication. (Xiong).
As per claim 4, Velev -Talebi discloses the method according to claim 3 (Velev: [ABS]: “to establish at least one session between the User Equipment and the Session Management Function node”),
Velev does not explicitly teach frame rate information.
Xiong however discloses wherein the first periodicity information of the service of the terminal device comprises at least one of information about a first frame rate of the service or information about a first ratio of frames of high importance to frames of low importance in the service (Xiong: [0053] the periodicity information is the FPS information, the SMF entity may convert the FPS information to a specific periodicity value. Specifically, the periodicity value is equal to 1000/FPS (ms).”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of modified Velev in view of Xiong to figure out the periodicity information. One would be motivated to do so because this technique advantageously aids in enhancing communication. (Xiong).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10 & 12 or 11 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Claims 11 or 10 and 12 are to be dissolved along 9 for potential allowance.
Conclusion
This action is made FINAL. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. This includes:
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/SIBTE H BUKHARI/Examiner, Art Unit 2449
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