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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s submission filed on 01/27/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-6, 8, 11-16, and 18 are pending.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-2 and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cui et al. (US 2022/0247656), hereinafter “Cui”, in view of Koc et al. (US 2013/0115990), and further in view of Guo et al. (US 2022/0330086), hereinafter “Guo”, and further in view of Bagheri et al. (US 2024/0406793), hereinafter “Bagheri”.
Regarding claims 1, 11, Cui teaches:
A terminal or a method performed by a terminal, comprising:
a transceiver (see Cui, Fig. 4, par. [0078]: The UE 10 may comprise a transmitting unit 403, e.g. a transmitter or transceiver); and
a processor operably connected to the transceiver (see Cui, Fig. 4, par. [0077]: The UE 10 may comprise a determining unit 402. The UE 10, the processing circuitry 401 and/or the determining unit 402 may be configured to determine the type of data traffic for communication of the UE. The UE 10, the processing circuitry 401 and/or the determining unit 402 may be configured to determine the type of data traffic based on screen usage or application at the UE),
wherein the processor is configured to:
generate application process state (APS) information, wherein a first value of the APS information indicates that data to be transmitted from the terminal is generated by a plurality of applications of the terminal in a background process, and the APS information indicates that the data is generated by the plurality of applications of the terminal in the background process (see Cui, Fig. 2B, pars. [0064-0065]: Action 211. The UE 10 may determine the type of data traffic for communication of the UE. This may be based on screen usage at the UE 10 and/or application used. The type of data traffic may be determined based on a threshold level of a latency requirement of the data traffic. Type of data traffic may be defined as background data or foreground data. Action 212. The UE 10 transmits the indication to the radio network node 12, indicating the type of data traffic for communication of the UE, wherein the type is related to the level of performance. The indication may indicate a level of latency requirement. The indication may indicate what type the UE 10 buffers for transmission or is expecting to receive, e.g. type and/or amount of data intended for communication. E.g. the data may be data that the UE is expecting to receive from its higher layers and which is to be sent to the network, and may also indicate the amount of data for which the UE expects to send for the duration of the RRC connected state; in this case, determining the type of data traffic being background or foreground corresponds to generating APS information), and
transmit, via the transceiver, to a base station, a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (see Cui, Fig. 2B, par. [0065]: Action 212. The UE 10 transmits the indication to the radio network node 12, indicating the type of data traffic for communication of the UE, wherein the type is related to the level of performance. The indication may indicate a level of latency requirement. The indication may indicate what type the UE 10 buffers for transmission or is expecting to receive, e.g. type and/or amount of data intended for communication. E.g. the data may be data that the UE is expecting to receive from its higher layers and which is to be sent to the network, and may also indicate the amount of data for which the UE expects to send for the duration of the RRC connected state. The indication may be sent using a Power Preference Indication (PPI) signalling indication, a specific MAC control element (CE), and see Fig. 2A, par. [0061]: Action 203. The radio network node 12 allocates one or more radio resources for the UE 10 based on the indicated type of data traffic. When the radio network node 12 receives this indication, it may e.g. decide to minimize the amount of radio resources allocated for the UE 10. The indication may be referred to as a BackgroundTraffic indication when the indication indicates a latency requirement below a threshold e.g. a low latency requirement may indicate that the data may be delayed above a threshold. The radio network node 12 may schedule the UE with lower priority than normal if the UE 10 has signalled BackgroundTraffic indication. If the UE 10 sends a BSR indicating that the UE has a lot of data to transmit (above a threshold), the radio network node 12 may still decide to allocate a lot of radio resources for the UE even though the UE 10 has signaled BackgroundTraffic indication) including:
a second field indicating the APS information (see Cui, Fig. 2B, par. [0065]: Action 212. The UE 10 transmits the indication to the radio network node 12, indicating the type of data traffic for communication of the UE, wherein the type is related to the level of performance. The indication may indicate a level of latency requirement. The indication may indicate what type the UE 10 buffers for transmission or is expecting to receive, e.g. type and/or amount of data intended for communication. E.g. the data may be data that the UE is expecting to receive from its higher layers and which is to be sent to the network, and may also indicate the amount of data for which the UE expects to send for the duration of the RRC connected state. The indication may be sent using a Power Preference Indication (PPI) signalling indication, a specific MAC control element (CE); in this case, sending the indication of type of data traffic in a MAC CE corresponds to the MAC CE having a field indicating the APS information),
However, Cui does not teach:
wherein a second value of the APS information indicates that the data is generated in the background process while a foreground process, which does not generate the data, is running,
wherein the buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) includes:
a first field indicating a logical channel group (LCG) identifier (ID) of an LCG corresponding to the APS information, and
a third field indicating a buffer size of the LCG.
Koc, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein a second value of the APS information indicates that the data is generated in the background process while a foreground process, which does not generate the data, is running (see Koc, par. [0022]: the applications module 124 of UE 108 may transmit to the eNB 104 (e.g., via the communications module 120) a background indicator that indicates the UE 108 is in the background mode, and see par. [0022]: the background indicator may include a bit having a first value if the UE 108 is in the background mode, and see par. [0021]: the UE 108 may switch between a background mode and an active mode. The background mode may be defined as a mode during which the UE, through the applications module 124, for example, is running one or more background applications and no active applications. Active applications refer to applications that are actively interacting with a user of the UE 108. Accordingly, the UE 108 may not be engaged in active interaction with the user during the background mode. A display (not shown) of the UE 108 may or may not be turned off during the background mode; in this case, a display turned on but not actively engaging with the user corresponds to a foreground process running but not generating data),
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the APS of Cui with the specific APS indication of Koc with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of efficient use of resources for communication (see Koc, par. [0030]).
However, the combination of Cui in view of Koc does not teach:
wherein the buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) includes:
a first field indicating a logical channel group (LCG) identifier (ID) of an LCG corresponding to the APS information, and
a third field indicating a buffer size of the LCG.
Guo, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) includes:
a first field indicating an identifier (ID) corresponding to the APS information (see Guo, Fig. 7, par. [0154]: The UE may determine the UDC parameter based on a DRB condition after receiving the DRB configuration information sent by the base station. The UDC parameter may include one or more of a dictionary type, a dictionary length, or a UDC priority, and see par. [0159]: The UE may send the UDC parameter to the base station after determining the UDC parameter. The UDC parameter may include one or more of a dictionary type, a dictionary length, or a UDC priority. The UE may report the UDC parameter through a control PDU or a MAC CE with an identifier, and see par. [0150]: The DRB configuration information may include at least one of the following: a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) configuration, a radio link control (RLC) configuration, a logical channel configuration, a logical channel identifier, and see par. [0133]: the UE may determine a priority of a DRB based on a type of a data service carried by the DRB. For example, a user may use the UE to watch a video on YouTube and use WeChat to chat with other people by using texts at the same time. Video services have high requirements on a rate and a latency, while text services have low requirements on a latency. Therefore, a priority of a DRB carrying a YouTube video service is higher than a priority of a DRB carrying a WeChat text service. In some other embodiments, the UE may determine whether an application corresponding to a data service carried by a DRB runs in the foreground, and accordingly determine a priority of the DRB. For example, if an application corresponding to a data service carried by the DRB 1 runs in the foreground and an application corresponding to a data service carried by the DRB 2 run in the background, a priority of the DRB 1 is higher than a priority of the DRB 2; in this case, an identifier is associated with the UDC parameter sent in a MAC CE, and the UDC parameter has a priority based on whether the application is in the foreground or background), and
a third field indicating a buffer size (see Guo, par. [0128]: The UE selects an optimal UDC parameter based on a condition of the UE, for example, a type of a DRB data service and a size of to-be-transmitted data. The UDC parameter may include one or more of a priority of using UDC for a DRB, a dictionary type, a dictionary length, a buffer size, and see par. [0159]: The UE may send the UDC parameter to the base station after determining the UDC parameter. The UDC parameter may include one or more of a dictionary type, a dictionary length, or a UDC priority. The UE may report the UDC parameter through a control PDU or a MAC CE with an identifier)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the terminal or method of the combination of Cui in view of Koc with the identifier and buffer size of Guo with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving compression efficiency (see Guo, par. [0008], lines 1-5).
However, the combination of Cui in view of Guo does not teach:
wherein the first field indicates a logical channel group (LCG) identifier (ID) of an LCG
wherein the third field indicates a buffer size of the LCG.
Bagheri, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the first field indicates a logical channel group (LCG) identifier (ID) of an LCG (see Bagheri, par. [0111]: In one embodiment, the BSR MAC CE has the following fields: LCG ID, LCG, Buffer Size)
wherein the third field indicates a buffer size of the LCG (see Bagheri, par. [0111]: In one embodiment, the BSR MAC CE has the following fields: LCG ID, LCG, Buffer Size).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the identifier and buffer size of the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, with the identifier being of a logical channel group and the buffer size being of the LCG with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of enabling more efficient service delivery (see Bagheri, par. [0037]).
Regarding claims 2, 12, the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, teaches the terminal or method.
The combination of Cui in view of Koc does not teach, but Guo teaches:
wherein the processor is further configured to receive, via the transceiver, from the base station, a message (see Guo, Fig. 7, item S702, par. [0154], lines 1-3: The UE may determine the UDC parameter based on a DRB condition after receiving the DRB configuration information sent by the base station, and see Guo, Fig. 8, par. [0190], lines 5-16: The processing module 810 may be configured to perform all operations except receiving and sending operations performed by the UE in the embodiments shown in FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, and FIG. 7A, for example, an operation of determining a UDC parameter by the UE, and/or another process used to support the technology described in this specification. The transceiver module 820 may be configured to perform all receiving and sending operations performed by the UE in the embodiments shown in FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, and FIG. 7A, for example, S701 and S704 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7A) including configuration information related to transmitting the BSR MAC CE (see Guo, par. [0154], lines 1-8: The UE may determine the UDC parameter based on a DRB condition after receiving the DRB configuration information sent by the base station. The UDC parameter may include one or more of a dictionary type, a dictionary length, or a UDC priority. For example, the base station configures five DRBs, and the UE may configure corresponding UDC parameters for the five DRBs after receiving the DRB configuration information sent by the base station, and see Guo, par. [0159], lines 1-2: The UE may send the UDC parameter to the base station after determining the UDC parameter, and see Guo, par. [0133], lines 11-19: the UE may determine whether an application corresponding to a data service carried by a DRB runs in the foreground, and accordingly determine a priority of the DRB. For example, if an application corresponding to a data service carried by the DRB 1 runs in the foreground and an application corresponding to a data service carried by the DRB 2 run in the background, a priority of the DRB 1 is higher than a priority of the DRB 2; in this case, the UE determines and transmits a UDC parameter (corresponding to a control signal), including a priority which is based on whether data is generated in the foreground or background, based on configuration from the base station).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the terminal or method of the combination of Cui in view of Koc with the system receiving configuration information of Guo with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving compression efficiency (see Guo, par. [0008], lines 1-5).
Claims 3-6 and 13-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, as applied to claims 1-2 and 11-12 above, and further in view of Vargantwar et al. (US 2020/0229022), hereinafter "Vargantwar", and further in view of Wang et al. (US 2018/0035336), hereinafter “Wang”.
Regarding claims 3, 13, the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, teaches the terminal or method.
However, the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, does not teach:
wherein the at least one application includes a single application, and the APS information is for a logical channel identifier (LCID) or the LCG ID.
Vargantwar, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the at least one application includes a single application (see Vargantwar, par. [0037], lines 2-5: the UE may be configured with an operating system that has a capability to distinguish applications executing in the foreground from applications that are executing in the background; in this case, at least one application is analyzed),
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the application of the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, with the single application of Vargantwar with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving response time (see Vargantwar, par. [0013]).
However, the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, and further in view of Vargantwar, does not teach:
the APS information is for a logical channel identifier (LCID) or the LCG ID.
Wang, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
the APS information is for a logical channel identifier (LCID) or the LCG ID (see Wang, Fig. 5, par. [0074], lines 5-9: the MAC CE is indentified by a LCID field with 5 bits in the MAC header, and the value of LCID index (11000, binary) of an Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH) is used as identification of MAC CE for the UE context information report; in this case, the UE context information report (corresponding to APS information) is associated with a LCID field).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the APS information of the combination of combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, and further in view of Vargantwar, with the information being for a LCID of Wang with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of providing a UE with services more efficiently (see Wang, par. [0035]).
Regarding claims 4, 14, the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, teaches the terminal or method.
However, the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, does not teach:
wherein the at least one application includes a plurality of applications, and, if the APS information indicates that the data is generated in the background process, the data is generated by the plurality of applications in the background process, and
wherein the APS information is for a logical channel identifier (LCID) or the LCG ID.
Vargantwar, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the at least one application includes a plurality of applications (see Vargantwar, par. [0037], lines 2-5: the UE may be configured with an operating system that has a capability to distinguish applications executing in the foreground from applications that are executing in the background), and, if the APS information indicates that the data is generated in the background process, the data is generated by the plurality of applications in the background process (see Vargantwar, par. [0037], lines 10-15: the UE may provide explicit signaling (e.g., via the primary cell) to indicate applications that are running in the foreground versus applications that are miming in the background, and this indication may be provided to the ADC network function for use in classifying the downlink traffic into the foreground and background traffic flows, and see Vargantwar, par. [0039], lines 1-5: based on the ADC network function classifying the downlink traffic into foreground and background flows, the downlink traffic can be given different paths through the network based on whether the traffic includes foreground data or background data, and see Vargantwar, par. [0012]: the downlink traffic may be classified as relating to the application executing in the foreground state or relating to the one or more applications executing in the background state based on one or more traffic classification methods (e.g., based on packet contents, statistical analysis of network traffic attributes, a UE indication as to whether a given application is executing in the foreground or background state, and/or the like); in this case, the UE provides an indication (corresponding to APS information) consisting of several background applications (corresponding to data generated by the plurality of applications in the background process)),
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the application of the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, with the plurality of applications of Vargantwar with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving response time (see Vargantwar, par. [0013]).
However, the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, and further in view of Vargantwar, does not teach:
wherein the APS information is for a logical channel identifier (LCID) or the LCG ID.
Wang, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the APS information is for a logical channel identifier (LCID) or the LCG ID (see Wang, Fig. 5, par. [0074], lines 5-9: the MAC CE is indentified by a LCID field with 5 bits in the MAC header, and the value of LCID index (11000, binary) of an Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH) is used as identification of MAC CE for the UE context information report; in this case, the UE context information report (corresponding to APS information) is associated with a LCID field).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the APS information of the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, and further in view of Vargantwar, with the information being for a LCID of Wang with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of providing a UE with services more efficiently (see Wang, par. [0035]).
Regarding claims 5, 15, the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, teaches the terminal or method.
However, the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, does not teach:
wherein the at least one application includes a plurality of applications, and, if the APS information indicates that the data is generated in the foreground process, the data is generated by the plurality of applications in the foreground process, and
wherein the APS information is for a logical channel identifier (LCID) or the LCG ID.
Vargantwar, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the at least one application includes a plurality of applications (see Vargantwar, par. [0037], lines 2-5: the UE may be configured with an operating system that has a capability to distinguish applications executing in the foreground from applications that are executing in the background), and, if the APS information indicates that the data is generated in the foreground process, the data is generated by the plurality of applications in the foreground process (see Vargantwar, par. [0037], lines 10-15: the UE may provide explicit signaling (e.g., via the primary cell) to indicate applications that are running in the foreground versus applications that are miming in the background, and this indication may be provided to the ADC network function for use in classifying the downlink traffic into the foreground and background traffic flows, and see Vargantwar, par. [0039], lines 1-5: based on the ADC network function classifying the downlink traffic into foreground and background flows, the downlink traffic can be given different paths through the network based on whether the traffic includes foreground data or background data, and see Vargantwar, par. [0012]: the downlink traffic may be classified as relating to the application executing in the foreground state or relating to the one or more applications executing in the background state based on one or more traffic classification methods (e.g., based on packet contents, statistical analysis of network traffic attributes, a UE indication as to whether a given application is executing in the foreground or background state, and/or the like); in this case, the UE provides an indication (corresponding to APS information) consisting of several foreground applications (corresponding to data generated by the plurality of applications in the foreground process)),
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the application of the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, with the plurality of applications of Vargantwar with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving response time (see Vargantwar, par. [0013]).
However, the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, and further in view of Vargantwar, does not teach:
wherein the APS information is for a logical channel identifier (LCID) or the LCG ID.
Wang, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the APS information is for a logical channel identifier (LCID) or the LCG ID (see Wang, Fig. 5, par. [0074], lines 5-9: the MAC CE is indentified by a LCID field with 5 bits in the MAC header, and the value of LCID index (11000, binary) of an Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH) is used as identification of MAC CE for the UE context information report; in this case, the UE context information report (corresponding to APS information) is associated with a LCID field).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the APS information of the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, and further in view of Vargantwar, with the information being for a LCID of Wang with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of providing a UE with services more efficiently (see Wang, par. [0035]).
Regarding claims 6, 16, the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, teaches the terminal or method.
Cui does not teach, but Koc teaches:
wherein the foreground process is running and does not generate data (see Koc, par. [0021]: the UE 108 may switch between a background mode and an active mode. The background mode may be defined as a mode during which the UE, through the applications module 124, for example, is running one or more background applications and no active applications. Active applications refer to applications that are actively interacting with a user of the UE 108. Accordingly, the UE 108 may not be engaged in active interaction with the user during the background mode. A display (not shown) of the UE 108 may or may not be turned off during the background mode; in this case, a display turned on but not actively engaging with the user corresponds to a foreground process running but not generating data),
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the terminal or method of Cui with the foreground processing running but not generating data of Koc with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of efficient use of resources for communication (see Koc, par. [0030]).
However, the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, does not teach:
wherein the at least one application includes a plurality of applications, and, if the APS information indicates that the data is generated in the background process, the data is generated by the plurality of applications in the background process, and
wherein the APS information is for a logical channel identifier (LCID) or the LCG ID.
Vargantwar, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the at least one application includes a plurality of applications (see Vargantwar, par. [0037], lines 2-5: the UE may be configured with an operating system that has a capability to distinguish applications executing in the foreground from applications that are executing in the background), and, if the APS information indicates that the data is generated in the background process, the data is generated by the plurality of applications in the background process (see Vargantwar, par. [0037], lines 10-15: the UE may provide explicit signaling (e.g., via the primary cell) to indicate applications that are running in the foreground versus applications that are miming in the background, and this indication may be provided to the ADC network function for use in classifying the downlink traffic into the foreground and background traffic flows, and see Vargantwar, par. [0039], lines 1-5: based on the ADC network function classifying the downlink traffic into foreground and background flows, the downlink traffic can be given different paths through the network based on whether the traffic includes foreground data or background data; in this case, the UE provides an indication (corresponding to APS information) consisting of several background applications (corresponding to data generated by the plurality of applications in the background process)),
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the application of the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, with the plurality of applications of Vargantwar with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving response time (see Vargantwar, par. [0013]).
However, the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, and further in view of Vargantwar, does not teach:
wherein the APS information is for a logical channel identifier (LCID) or the LCG ID.
Wang, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the APS information is for a logical channel identifier (LCID) or the LCG ID (see Wang, Fig. 5, par. [0074], lines 5-9: the MAC CE is indentified by a LCID field with 5 bits in the MAC header, and the value of LCID index (11000, binary) of an Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH) is used as identification of MAC CE for the UE context information report; in this case, the UE context information report (corresponding to APS information) is associated with a LCID field).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the APS information of the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, and further in view of Vargantwar, with the information being for a LCID of Wang with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of providing a UE with services more efficiently (see Wang, par. [0035]).
Claims 8 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, as applied to claims 1-2 and 11-12 above, and further in view of Li et al. (US 2023/0354092), hereinafter “Li”.
Regarding claims 8, 18, the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, teaches the terminal or method.
However, the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, does not teach:
wherein the BSR MAC CE further includes:
a fourth field indicating that the third field exists.
Li, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the BSR MAC CE further includes:
a fourth field indicating that the third field exists (see Li, par. [0100], lines 1-4: for the buffer status report MAC CE or the new buffer status report MAC CE, the LCGi field indicates presence of a buffer size field for the logical channel group i, and see Li, Fig. 6, par. [0102], lines 3-6: in FIG. 6, an 8-byte bitmap is used to indicate whether buffer size information to which a logical channel group corresponds is reported or whether a logical channel group has data to be transmitted; in this case, the LCGi field (corresponding to a first field) indicates whether a buffer size field is present (corresponding to whether a third field indicating a buffer size exists)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the system of the combination of Cui in view of Koc, and further in view of Guo, and further in view of Bagheri, with the MAC CE including an indication of if the third field exists of Li with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of simplifying and reducing complexity of system design (see Li, par. [0086], lines 1-9).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 11 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Wu (US 2019/0239153) teaches a network channel allocation method and apparatus, relate to the field of communications technologies, and resolve a prior-art problem that a resource is wasted and an intermittent service stop occurs because of resource contention between applications.
Kim et al. (WO 2022/071674) teaches a method and an apparatus for supporting application state filter information in UE data collection utilizing an application function provided by a communication carrier.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/C.J.B./Examiner, Art Unit 2419
/Nishant Divecha/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2419