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 .
1. Claims 1-13 and 17-23 are elected for examination.
Claims 14-16 have been withdrawn from consideration.
Allowable Subject Matter
2. Claims 8-11 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 and overcome the objections.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
3. Claim(s) 1-6, 17-19, and 21-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim et al. (hereafter, “Kim”), US 2012/0163268 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Kim teaches a media data transmission method (i.e., method for transmitting data, abstract), wherein the method comprises:
receiving, by an access network device, layered coding information of a media flow (i.e., one or more enhancements are received, page 4 paragraph [0060]), wherein the media flow is a target service (i.e., the wireless network for providing MBS service includes a core network including servers for providing data packets and a metropolitan network including a plurality of base stations for providing data packets to a plurality of terminals in a MBS zone, page 4 paragraph [0067]);
determining, by the access network device, a plurality of multicast groups of terminal devices (UEs) that access the target service, based on the layered coding information and information about the UEs (i.e., the base station 620 may groups terminals depending on performance of the terminals…multicast the corresponding layers to the terminals of the groups, page 4 paragraph [0071]), wherein a quantity (two) of the plurality of multicast groups (first and second terminal groups) corresponding to a quality (two) of layers (layer 1 and layer 2) of the media flow (i.e., assigns layer 1 to the first terminal group in a multicast manner…layer 2 is assigned to the second terminal group within the cell in a multicast manner, page 5 paragraphs [0086]-[0087]); and
sending, by the access network device, a media data packet of the target service to the UEs based on the plurality of multicast groups (i.e., variably configure one or more layers of video data for each groups, and then multicast the corresponding layers to the terminals of the group…transmit layered data packets to a plurality of terminals, page 4 paragraph [0071]).
Regarding claim 2, Kim teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the layered coding information comprises at least one of: first indication information, wherein the first indication information indicates that the media flow is a layered media flow, a quantity of media flow layers in the media flow, a layer identifier of a media flow layer in the media flow, or a network requirement of a media flow layer in the media flow (i.e., assign layer enhancement layer 1, page 5 paragraph [0086]).
Regarding claim 3, Kim teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the information about the UEs comprises, for each of the UEs, at least one of: a distance between the UE and the access network device, a channel status of the UE, or a received signal strength of the UE (i.e., channel status, page 5 paragraph [0082]).
Regarding claim 4, Kim teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: receiving, by the access network device, second indication information from a session management function (SMF) network element, wherein the second indication information indicates the access network device to determine the plurality of multicast groups (i.e., number of groups may be determined based on the number of enhancement layers includes in received data packets, page 5 paragraphs [0084]-[0085]).
Regarding claim 5, Kim teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein
the method further comprises receiving, by the access network device, third indication information from a session management function (SMF) network element (i.e., the intermediate control server 601 …assigning numbers to the respective layers so that the plurality of based stations can identify the layer numbers, page 4 paragraph [0069]),
a first media flow layer in the media flow corresponds to, among the plurality of multicast groups, a multicast group to which a UE among the UEs belongs (i.e., transmit layer 1 to the terminals of a first terminal group, page 5 paragraph [0091]), and
either
the third indication information indicates a correspondence between a media flow layer and a quality of service (QoS) flow (i.e., multimedia data may be divided into a plurality of layers depending on the quality, page 4 paragraph [0063]); and
the sending comprises sending, by the access network device to the UE, the media data packet in a QoS flow corresponding to the first media flow layer (i.e., the base station may transmit layered data packets to a plurality of terminals, page 4 paragraph [0071]);
or
the third indication information indicates a correspondence between a media flow layer and a protocol data unit (PDU) session; and
the sending comprises sending, by the access network device to the UE, the media data packet in a PDU session corresponding to the first media flow layer.
Regarding claim 6, Kim teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the determining the plurality of multicast groups comprises: determining, for each multicast group in the plurality of multicast groups, at least one of: a multicast group identifier, identifiers of UEs in the multicast group, a received signal strength range of the UEs in the multicast group, a layer identifier of a media flow layer in the media flow and corresponding to a multicast group, a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a bandwidth, or transmit power (i.e., assign enhancement layer 1 to the first group…enhancement layer 2 is assigned to the second terminal group, page 5 paragraphs [0086]-[0087]).
Regarding claim 17, Kim teaches a communication apparatus (i.e., Fig. 10), comprising a processor (i.e., processor 1030), wherein the processor is coupled to a memory (i.e., memory 1050), and the processor is configured to cause the communication apparatus to implement:
receiving layered coding information of a media flow (i.e., the base layer or the base layer and one or more enhancements are received, page 4 paragraph [0060]), wherein the media flow is a target service (i.e., the wireless network for providing MBS service includes a core network including servers for providing data packets and a metropolitan network including a plurality of base stations for providing data packets to a plurality of terminals in a MBS zone, page 4 paragraph [0067]);
determining a plurality of multicast groups of terminal devices (UEs) that access the target service, based on the layered coding information and information about the UEs (i.e., the base station 620 may groups terminals depending on performance of the terminals…multicast the corresponding layers to the terminals of the groups, page 4 paragraph [0071]), wherein a quantity (two) of the plurality of multicast groups (first and second terminal groups) corresponding to a quality (two) of layers (layer 1 and layer 2) of the media flow (i.e., assigns layer 1 to the first terminal group in a multicast manner…layer 2 is assigned to the second terminal group within the cell in a multicast manner, page 5 paragraphs [0086]-[0087]); and
sending a media data packet of the target service to the UEs based on the plurality of multicast groups (i.e., variably configure one or more layers of video data for each groups, and then multicast the corresponding layers to the terminals of the group, page 4 paragraph [0071]).
Regarding claim 18, this claim recites limitations that are similar to claims 4 discussed above, same rationale of rejections is applied.
Regarding claim 19, this claim recites limitations that are similar to claims 5 discussed above, same rationale of rejections is applied.
Regarding claims 21-23, those claims recite a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause an apparatus to perform method claims 1-3, discussed above, same rationale of rejections is applied.
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.
4. Claim(s) 7, 12, 13 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim, in view of Tjahjono et al. (hereafter, “Tjahjono”), US 2015/0201323 A1.
Regarding claim 7, Kim teaches the method according to claim 6, wherein the method further comprises: sending, by the access network device to the UE based on a layer identifier of a media flow layer in the media flow and corresponding to the multicast group to which the UE belongs, a media data packet corresponding to the layer identifier of the media flow layer (i.e., transmit layered data packets to a plurality of terminals, page 4 paragraph [0071]), wherein the media data packet of the target service carries the layer identifier of the media flow layer corresponding to the multicast group (i.e., each of base stations transmits layer 1 to the terminals of a first group, page 5 paragraph [0091]) .
Kim does not explicitly teach sending, by the access network device to a UE among the UEs, the multicast group identifier of the multicast group to which the UE belongs.
Tjahjono teaches a system and method for supporting multicast traffic of a wireless network (seen in abstract). Tjahjono teaches sending, by the access network device to a UE among the UEs, the multicast group identifier of the multicast group to which the UE belongs (i.e., a device connected to the access node is to send or receive specific multicast information associated with a specific multicast group identification (ID), page 5 paragraph [0058]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modify the teachings of Kim to send, by the access network device to a UE among the UEs, the multicast group identifier of the multicast group to which the UE belongs, as taught by Tjahjono. One would be motivated to do so to allow data to be efficiently delivered to multiple interested receivers by identifying a virtual group.
Regarding claim 12, Kim teaches the method according to claim 6.
Kim does not explicitly teach wherein the determining the plurality of multicast groups comprises determining the identifiers of the UEs in each of the plurality of multicast groups, and the method further comprises: sending, by the access network device, the identifiers of the UEs in each of the plurality of multicast groups to a session management function (SMF) network element.
Tjahjono teaches the determining the plurality of multicast groups determining the identifiers of the UEs in each of the plurality of multicast groups (i.e., identifying whether the downstream device identifier is with the multicast distribution table corresponding to the multicast group ID, Fig. 4 and page 4 paragraph [0045]), and the method further comprises: sending, by the access network device, the identifiers of the UEs in each of the plurality of multicast groups to a network element (i.e., Tjahjono, in page 7 paragraph [0081], discloses the multicast distribution table is propagated to upstream devices. Tjahjono, in Fig. 4 and page 4 paragraph [0044], also discloses a multicast distribution table includes device identifiers, page 4 paragraphs [0043]- [0044]).
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 teachings of Kim to determine the identifiers of the UEs in each of the plurality of multicast groups, and send, by the access network device, the identifiers of the UEs in each of the plurality of multicast groups to a network element, as taught by Tjahjono. One would be motivated to do so to allow data to be efficiently delivered to multiple interested UEs.
Regarding claim 13, Kim teaches the method according to claim 1.
Kim does not explicitly teach wherein the method further comprises: sending, by the access network device, a quantity of multicast groups of the target service to an application server (AS) network element.
Tjahjono teaches ending, by the access network device, a quantity of multicast groups of the target service to a network element (i.e., Tjahjono, in Fig. 4 and page 7 paragraph [0081]), discloses the multicast distribution table is propagated to upstream devices. Tjahjono, in page 4 paragraph [0044], also discloses a multicast distribution table includes a corresponding list of multicast groups memberships).
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 teachings of Kim to send, by the access network device, a quantity of multicast groups of the target service to a network element, as taught by Tjahjono. One would be motivated to do so to allow data to be efficiently delivered to multiple interested UEs by using a virtual group.
Regarding claim 20, this claim recites limitations that are similar to claim 7, discussed above, same rationale of rejections is applied.
Response to Arguments
5. Applicant's arguments filed 04/15/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In the remarks, Applicant argued in substance that
(A) Kim does not disclose that a quantity of the plurality of multicast group corresponds to a quantity of layers of the media flow.
As to point (A), Kim does disclose a quantity (two) of the plurality of multicast groups (first and second terminal groups) corresponding to a quality (two) of layers (layer 1 and layer 2) of the media flow (i.e., assigns layer 1 to the first terminal group in a multicast manner…layer 2 is assigned to the second terminal group within the cell in a multicast manner, page 5 paragraphs [0086]- [0087]).
Conclusion
6. THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OANH DUONG whose telephone number is (571)272-3983. The examiner can normally be reached Maxiflex Mon-Fri 6:00am-5:00pm.
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/OANH DUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2459
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