DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This is a Non-final action for application number 18/420,256 in response to an original application filed on 01/23/2024.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending and have been considered below.
Claims 1, 8 and 15 are independent claims.
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, 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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gupta et al. (US 2023/0319678 A1) in view of Zhang et al. (US 2026/0012794 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 8 and 15, A device, [Figure 8, Ref # Base Station 808], comprising: one or more processors, [Figure 13, Ref # processor 1304] configured to:
receive an indication of a traffic descriptor, [The base station 808 may receive the communication with the traffic descriptor from the UE 802. The base station 808 may identify the traffic descriptor within the communication, (Gupta et al., Paragraph 175)], associated with an application running on a user equipment (UE), [Traffic descriptors can be defined either based on: 1) Service type of application (email, video, gaming etc.) which can point to a range of values for a set of QoS related attributes or 2) Traffic characteristics (just QoS attributes with no mapping to service/application types). Specific QoS attributes could have a relative priority level, (Gupta et al., Paragraph 42)],
and allocate, using a scheduling function, resources for the application based on an intra-user flow priority, [Traffic in each category can be categorized by application/service type which can point to a range of values for a set of QoS related attributes. These QoS related attributes can be as follows: 1) Priority level (scheduling priority among flows); 2) Packet delay budget (latency); 3) Packet error rate (congestion and reliability); 4) Burst window (max throughput per unit time); and 5) Averaging window (guaranteed flow bit rate over unit time), (Gupta et al., Paragraph 40)],
Gupta et al. fails to explicitly teach that different applications associated with the UE are allocated with different amounts of resources based on the intra-user flow priority,
Zhang et al. teaches that multiple BWPs can be configured for the UE 502 with different amount of frequency resources (for example, PRBs) to support data transmission under different traffic loading scenarios. A BWP containing a smaller number of PRBs can be used for data transmission with small traffic load while allowing power saving at the UE 502 and in some cases at the gNB 516. A BWP containing a larger number of PRBs can be used for scenarios with higher traffic load, (Zhang et al., Paragraph 187),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify Gupta et al. fails by including that different applications associated with the UE are allocated with different amounts of resources based on the intra-user flow priority, (Zhang et al., Paragraph 187), in order to provide QoS level security configuration in PDU session, (Zhang et al., Abstract).
Regarding claims 2, 9 and 16, the method wherein the intra-user flow priority is based on a Fifth Generation (5G) quality of service (QoS) identifier (5QI), [These performance characteristics include Resource type (GBR, non-GBR), Priority level, Packet delay budget, Packet error rate, Averaging window, Maximum data burst volume, etc. Standardized 5QI values are specified for services that are frequently used and the one-to-one mapping between standardized 5QI values and the 5G QoS performance characteristics, (Gupta et al., Paragraph 149)], and single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI), [The AF sends a request to reserve resources for an AF session using Nnef AF session With QoS Create request message (UE address, AF Identifier, Flow description(s) or External Application Identifier, QoS reference, QoS parameters, Alternative Service Requirements (as described in clause 6.1.3.22 of TS 23.503), DNN, S-NSSAI) to the NEF, (Zhang et al., Paragraph 77)].
Regarding claims 3, 10 and 17, the method wherein the application is associated with a class of applications, [Traffic categories can be defined based on type of service handled by an application. As an example, enterprise class applications could include traffic categories for email, browsing, chat, conferencing, voice, etc. Similarly gaming applications could include real-time gaming, interactive gaming and other games which could include extended reality (XR) type of traffic as well, (Gupta et al., Paragraph 150)], and each class is assigned to a separate logical flow using network slicing and a UE route selection policy (URSP), [the core network may identify the UE for provision of one or more URSP rules related to traffic descriptors for a parameter. The parameter may be a service type or a QoS attribute. For example, the parameter may be a service type in some instances and may be a QoS attribute in some instances, (Gupta et al., Paragraph 200)].
Regarding claims 4, 11 and 18, the method further comprising a hierarchical traffic quality of service (QoS) based on a first level and a second level, the first level corresponds to an inter-user flow priority, and the second level corresponds to the intra-user flow priority, [Traffic descriptors can be defined either based on: 1) Service type of application (email, video, gaming etc.) which can point to a range of values for a set of QoS related attributes or 2) Traffic characteristics (just QoS attributes with no mapping to service/application types). Specific QoS attributes could have a relative priority level. As an example, there could be relative priority among the QoS attributes (e.g. low latency, high bandwidth slice with latency as higher priority). Specific QoS attributes could have a range of values. Priority in a slice can be given to a single or multiple QS attributes, (Gupta et al., Paragraph 42)].
Regarding claims 5, 12 and 19, the method wherein the resources for the application are selected from a set of resource blocks allocated for the UE based on an inter-user flow priority, [multiple BWPs can be configured for the UE 502 with different amount of frequency resources (for example, PRBs) to support data transmission under different traffic loading scenarios, (Zhang et al., Paragraph 187)].
Regarding claims 6, 13 and 20, the method wherein the intra-user flow priority is triggered based on network measurements, and the network measurements are associated with a cell-level load, [A BWP containing a smaller number of PRBs can be used for data transmission with small traffic load while allowing power saving at the UE 502 and in some cases at the gNB 516. A BWP containing a larger number of PRBs can be used for scenarios with higher traffic load, (Zhang et al., Paragraph 187)].
Regarding claims 7 and 14, the method wherein the application is associated with low latency traffic, [Gaming may include traffic from one or more applications related to Gaming service, e.g., with low latency requirement, (Gupta et al., Paragraph 34)].
Conclusion
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/SHUKRI TAHA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478