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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 08/11/2026 has been entered.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7, 8, 9, 10 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Independent Claims
Claim(s) 1, 11, 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dao (US-20190254118) in view of 3GPP TS 23.501 v17.1.0 (2021-06) System architecture for the 5G system; Hannksela (US-20100049865).
As to claim 1, 11, 15: Dao teaches a transmission method, applied in an access network element, the method comprising: receiving third control information from a session management network element ([0067] SMF provides QoS profiles to RAN node), the third control information being used to indicate a control parameter of an application data unit in a Quality of Service (QoS) flow ([0158] The SMF sends all QoS Profiles for both GBR and non-GBR QoS Flows together with QFIs, to (R)AN.; [0067-68] QoS Profiles contain QoS parameters for controlling the forwarding of packets having various QoS requirements; [0084-91, 188] If the Application-Specific Packet Filter Set is not changed, the QoS Rule(s) for one QoS Flow may include UE-Specific Application ID, and Application Specific Packet Filter Set ID, (not the whole Packet Filters), QFI, QoS parameters);
Although Dao teaches 5QI ([0067, 68]), Dao may not explicitly teach wherein the third control information comprises third parameter information used to indicate a QoS parameter of the application data unit, wherein the third parameter information comprises at least one of a bit error rate, a transmission delay or a code rate requirement. However, 3GPP teaches wherein the third control information comprises third parameter information used to indicate a QoS parameter of the application data unit, wherein the third parameter information comprises at least one of a bit error rate, a transmission delay or a code rate requirement (p.153, section 5.7.3.1 5G QoS characteristics associated with 5QI including PDB, PER).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement BER, delay, taught by 3GPP, into the communication system, taught by Dao, in order to implement a well-known feature of a pre-defined protocol and to assist in scheduling. In addition, it would have been obvious to combine 3GPP and Dao in a known manner to obtain predictable results as the combination would not change the essence, quiddity, or functionality of the prior art references.
Dao may not explicitly teach and the application data unit comprises a frame or a coded slice within the frame. However, Hannukesla and the application data unit comprises a frame or a coded slice within the frame ([0015] The NAL unit type indicates whether the NAL unit contains a coded slice, a data partition of a coded slice, or other data not containing coded slice data).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement coded slice, taught by Hannukesla, into the communication system, taught by Dao, in order to implement a well-known feature of a pre-defined protocol and packetize coded portions of video and enable efficient decoding recovery. In addition, it would have been obvious to combine Hannukesla and Dao in a known manner to obtain predictable results as the combination would not change the essence, quiddity, or functionality of the prior art references.
Dependent Claims
Claim(s) 2, 12, 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dao (US-20190254118), 3GPP TS 23.501 v17.1.0 (2021-06) System architecture for the 5G system; Hannksela (US-20100049865) in view of RFC 3984.
As to claim 2, 12, 16: Dao teaches the method according to claim 1.
Dao may not explicitly teach wherein the third control information further comprises: third level information used to indicate a level of the application data unit, wherein the third level information comprises at least one of: an importance level of the frame or the coded slice within the frame in an application layer, or whether the frame or the coded slice within the frame is allowed to be skipped or discarded. However, RFC teaches wherein the third control information further comprises: third level information used to indicate a level of the application data unit, wherein the third level information comprises at least one of: an importance level of the frame or the coded slice within the frame in an application layer, or whether the frame or the coded slice within the frame is allowed to be skipped or discarded (section 1.1-1.3 NRI: 2 bits nal_ref_idc. A value of 00 indicates that the content of the NAL unit is not used to reconstruct reference pictures for inter picture prediction. Such NAL units can be discarded without risking the integrity of the reference pictures).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement discard bits, taught by RFC, into the communication system, taught by Dao, in order to implement a well-known feature of a pre-defined protocol and discard frames without compromising quality. In addition, it would have been obvious to combine Dao and RFC in a known manner to obtain predictable results as the combination would not change the essence, quiddity, or functionality of the prior art references.
Claim(s) 3, 4, 6, 13, 14, 17, 18, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dao (US-20190254118) in view 3GPP TS 23.501 v17.1.0 (2021-06) System architecture for the 5G system, Hannksela (US-20100049865).
As to claim 3, 13, 17: Dao teaches the method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving fourth control information from the session management network element, the fourth control information being used to indicate a QoS parameter of the QoS flow ([0137, 158] SMF provides RAN with QoS profiles with 5QI).
As to claim 4, 14, 18: Dao teaches the method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving first identification information from the session management network element, the first identification information being used to identify the application data unit ([0084-91] UE-Specific Application Identifier); or receiving a number of the application data unit from the session management network element.
As to claim 6, 20: Dao teaches the method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving a QoS flow identifier from the session management network element, the QoS flow identifier being used to identify the QoS flow ([0137, 158]).
Claim(s) 21, 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dao (US-20190254118), 3GPP TS 23.501 v17.1.0 (2021-06) System architecture for the 5G system, Hannksela (US-20100049865) in view Hong (US-20120183077).
As to claim 21, 22: Dao teaches the method according to claim 1.
Dao may not explicitly teach wherein the application data unit comprises a frame or a coded slice within the frame. However, Hong teaches wherein the application data unit comprises a frame or a coded slice within the frame ([0006] In H.264, a bitstream is logically subdivided into NAL units. Each coded picture is coded in one or more slice NAL units).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement coded slices, taught by Hong, into the communication system, taught by Dao, in order to implement a well-known feature of a pre-defined protocol and facilitate communication of media content. In addition, it would have been obvious to combine Hong and Dao in a known manner to obtain predictable results as the combination would not change the essence, quiddity, or functionality of the prior art references.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW CHUNG SUK OH whose telephone number is (571)270-5273. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 12p-8p.
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/ANDREW C OH/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466