Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
2. Applicant's election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-7 in the reply filed on 03/09/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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 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.
3.1. 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.
3.2. 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.
3.3. Claim(s) 1-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Xu, (CN 112956237 B) in view of Lin et al., (“Lin”, US 2020/0100200 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Xu teaches, a periodic service transmission method performed by a source access network device, the method comprising:
receiving first data (Xu, FIG.3, source base station (S-RAN), core network, [0055-56]: the core network user plane function entity (UPF, User Plane Function); [0064]: first base station (S-RAN) receive the first service parameter information (“1st data”) from the network side (core network); the first service parameter information may include: TSN data transmission period (“1st period”), offset value in the period, data packet size, data packet number, gating information and so on); and
sending a handover command to a terminal device in a first time period, wherein a start moment of the first time period occurs when the last data packet is sent to the terminal device, (Xu, [0061]: the first base station (S-RAN) triggers the first action when reaching the first trigger time; FIG.4, target base station (T-RAN), [0057]: S-RAN perform Step-2, sending the handover command to the UE, the terminal device sends the Step-4 message to the T-RAN, the subsequent flow is the interaction between the T-RAN and the core network to update the target side session and converting the data transmission path and so on; [0070]: the first base station (S-RAN) may not trigger a first behavior during a first service data transmission time, but trigger the first behavior within a non-data transmission time (immediately) after the first service data transmission time has ended (“start moment”), for example, trigger a handover command to execute a handover process, and may complete the first behavior within the non-data transmission time).
Xu does not expressly teaches
Lin teaches
wherein the first identifier indicates a last data packet of the first data (Lin, [0131]: the data packet further includes a first identifier. The first identifier is used to identify a format used for the first time information); and
an end moment of the first time period occurs at an end of the first periodicity (Lin, [0130]: the first moment is a time at which the data packet is received at the first wireless protocol layer, the first target moment (“end moment”) is a start moment of a period in which the first moment is located, and duration of the period in which the first moment is located is preset duration)
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to implement the “first time information” of Lin into the invention of Xu. The suggestion/motivation of determining the first relative time information helps reduce the quantity of bytes used to indicate the first time information, thereby improving the data packet transmission efficiency. Including the “first time information” of Lin into the invention of Xu was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Lin.
Regarding Claim 2, Xu-Lin teaches, the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
determining the start moment of the first time period based on the first identifier (Lin, [0131]: the data packet further includes a first identifier. The first identifier is used to identify a format used for the first time information; [0132]: to receive a data packet sent by a second device (S-RAN), where the data packet includes first time information, the first time information is used to indicate a time at which the data packet arrives at a first wireless protocol layer, the first wireless protocol layer is located in a user plane protocol stack of the second device, and a header of the data packet is a header of the first wireless protocol layer).
Regarding Claim 3, Xu-Lin teaches, the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
obtaining duration of the first periodicity (Xu, [0064]: the first service parameter information (“1st data”) includes TSN data transmission period (“1st period”)); and
determining the end moment of the first periodicity based on the duration of the first periodicity (Xu, [0136]: the first time information is used to indicate a interval that a first moment deviates from a first target moment, the first moment is a time at which the data packet is received at the first wireless protocol layer, the first target moment (“end moment”) is a start moment of a period in which the first moment is located, and duration of the period in which the first moment is located is preset duration).
Regarding Claim 4, Xu-Lin teaches, the method according to a claim 1, wherein the receiving a first identifier comprises:
receiving the first identifier from a user plane function network element using a general packet radio service tunneling protocol GTP layer (Lin, [0131]: the data packet further includes a first identifier. The first identifier is used to identify a format used for the first time information; [0132]: the data packet includes first time information, the first time information is used to indicate a time at which the data packet arrives at a first wireless protocol layer (“GTP layer”), the first wireless protocol layer is located in a user plane protocol stack of the second device (“S-RAN”)).
Regarding Claim 5, Xu-Lin teaches, the method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving first indication information, wherein the first indication information:
is used to determine the start moment of the first time period based on the first identifier (the data packet includes first time information, the first time information is used to indicate a time at which the data packet arrives at a first wireless protocol layer, the first wireless protocol layer is located in a user plane protocol stack of the second device).
Regarding Claim 6, Xu-Lin teaches, the method according to claim 5, wherein the first indication information comprises the duration of the first periodicity (Xu, {0064]: first base station (S-RAN) receive the first service parameter information (“1st data”) from the network side (core network); the first service parameter information may include: TSN data transmission period (“1st period”), etc.).
Regarding Claim 7, Xu-Lin teaches, the method according to claim 5, further comprising:
sending the first indication information to the target access network device (Xu, FIG.5, [0058]: handover preparation (Handover preparation) process, comprising S-RAN sending to the T-RAN switching request Handover Request) message).
Conclusion
4. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Jin et al., US 2020/0120548 A1, Dual Connectivity Based Method For Facilitating Switching Of Base Station, Involves Obtaining Network Slicing Information By User Equipment, And Receiving Switching Request Sent By Target Base Station Feedback By Source Base Station, [0005].
Cociglio, US 2019/0158368 A1, Method For Monitoring Packets In Communication Network E.g. Internet Protocol (IP) Network Involves Classifying At Least One Packet Of Traffic Received At Ingress Point For Determining Whether Packets Of Traffic Are To Be Monitored.
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should
be directed to CHHIAN (AMY) LING whose telephone number is (571)270-1074. The examiner can
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/C.L/Examiner, Art Unit 2446
/MICHAEL A KELLER/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2446
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