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 . In virtue of the Response filed on 01/09/2026, in which claims 1-20 are presented for examination, claims 1, 2, 13-19 are amended, wherein claims 1, 13, 19, are recited in independent form.
Claim Interpretation
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification, but without importing the material subject of the specification into the claims. The claims are interpreted based only on the limitations present in the claims, as they would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI) of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked. The Examiner has not identified any instances wherein the Applicant invokes 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, present in the claims. Therefore the claims will be given BRI claim interpretation.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 01/09/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Regarding claims 1, 13, and 19 Applicant asserts that regarding limitation including determining, by the network device, whether to enable a Low-Latency, Low-Loss Scalable-Throughput (L4S) service for the QoS flow, wherein the determining includes identifying whether the UE device supports the L4S service, “[t]he combination of Sahin and Lee fails to expressly or inherently disclose this claimed "determining" feature.” The Examiner respectfully disagrees. The Applicant attempts to obfuscate the breadth of teaching of d1 in view of d2 by reducing the teachings by omitting critical details understood from context in a manner which does not accurately reflect the disclosure of d1 in view of d2, and which distorts what one of ordinary skill in the art would understand given the disclosure thereof. Applicant assert that d1 “relates to congestion marking of data packets” and “merely describe that congestion monitoring may be used for an application client 230 of a UE 206 which requires L4S.” The Examiner respectfully disagrees. The Examiner acknowledges the general correspondence between teaching of d1 in view of d2 as relating to congestion marking, such a statement oversimplifies the teachings contained therein. The teaching of d1 and d2 with respect to L4S carry with it the understanding that the underlying technology was known and employed prior to the Applicant’s filing of the present application. One cannot divorce teaching of L4S from what would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art when reading such teaching. The Examiner also respectfully disagrees that specific teaching regarding “determining whether to enable the L4S service includes identifying whether the UE device supports the L4S service” is not found in d1 in view of d2. The Examiner maintains, even as amended the teaching is not only present but also obvious from the teaching in d1 in view of d2. D1 in view of d2 discloses determining whether to enable the L4S service (see at least d1 para. 0035, 0040-0047, 0056-0062, 0065) based on identifying support for L4S service (see d1 para. 0033, 0045, 0078, 0081, 0109, 0116, 0156, 0159-0160) which is also supported by d2 in the combination of d1 in view of d2 (see d2 para. 0129, 0141-0142, 0151-0155). The disclosure of d1 in view of d2 support a QoS flow implementation (see d1 para. 0163, 0076-0084). Therefore, when viewed from the perspective of what one of ordinary skill in the art would understand from the cited disclosure, the limitation is at least obvious from the cited disclosure. Although of different scope than amended independent claim 1, amended independent claims 13 and 19 recite subject matter similar to that explained above in relation to amended independent claim 1. Therefore, for reasons similar to those explained in relation to amended independent claim 1, such reasons are equally true of amended independent claims 13 and 19.
Regarding claims 2 and 14, Applicant asserts that the feature “determining whether the L4S service is appropriate for one of a Radio Access Network (RAN) only or the RAN plus a transport network for the QoS flow” is not taught. The Examiner respectfully disagrees. D1 in view of d2 suggest consideration of RAN only and transport network plus RAN (see d2 para. 0067, 0070, 0103, 0129-0135, 0140-0141); wherein d1 in view of d2 also suggests functionality reflective of notifying a User Plane Function (UPF) to enable L4S marking for the QoS flow (see d1 Figs. 8, para. 0080-0084; d2 para. 0013-0016, 0058); wherein d1 in view of d2 also suggests functionality reflective of indicators for the L4S service (see d1 para. 0080, 0121-0124); d2 para. 0124, 0130, 0137, 0141, 0143, 0151); wherein d1 in view of d2 also suggests tunnel Internet Protocol (IP) address or a virtual local area network (VLAN) address (see d1 para. 0080, d2 para. 0064, 0197). The Examiner maintains that one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of filing would understand such disclosure to render obvious the limitations of claims 2 and 14. Regarding assertion with respect to claim 16, the Examiner maintains that the disclosure of use of L4S indicators reflecting support for L4S service (see d1 para. 0033, 0045, 0078, 0081, 0109, 0116, 0156, 0159-0160) which is also supported by d2 in the combination of d1 in view of d2 (see d2 para. 0129, 0141-0142, 0151-0155) carries an understood support of such by the OS, as would be commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of filing. The Examiner notes that it would be obvious that support by a system or device would include an understood support by the software/firmware and/or operating system to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of filing.
The Examiner asserts the reasoning and underpinning evidence from the disclosure which support the amendments are taught by d1 in view of d2, therefore the Rejections below are maintained and made final.
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 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Application Publication US 20250008367 to Sahin et al (hereinafter d1) in view of US Patent Application Publication US 20240155418 to Lee et al (hereinafter d2).
Regarding claim 1, as to the limitations “A method, comprising:” d1 discloses techniques in the field of wireless communication (see d1 para. 0002) implemented as a system (see d1 Figs. 1-2) comprising at least a network device in a core network (see d1 Fig. 1, 146) and UE (see d1 Fig. 1, 102) a method, stored as instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors (see d1 para. 0185) cause the devices in the system to perform the method (see d1 Figs. 13-14);
As to the limitation “receiving, by a network device in a core network, a request for a Quality of Service (QoS) flow associated with a user equipment (UE) device” d1 suggests functionality reflective of reception of a request by a device associated with a core network with associated QoS flow for a UE (see d1 Fig. 8, 836-844, para. 0086);
As to the limitation “determining, by the network device, whether to enable a Low-Latency, Low-Loss Scalable-Throughput (L4S) service for the QoS flow” d1 suggests functionality reflective of configuration of enabling L4S for a QoS flow (see d1 Figs. 8, 886-894, para. 0076, 0078-0087, 0093-0095);
As to the limitation “notifying, by the network device and based on the determining, a Session Management Function (SMF) to create the QoS flow with the L4S service enabled” d1 suggests functionality reflective of notification of creating of a QoS flow with L4S (see d1 Figs. 8, para. 0075, 0080, 0084);
d1 may not explicitly disclose all the limitations of the claims, the disclosure of d1 is particularly relevant to the limitation and may meet the requirements under a broadest reasonable interpretation, in order to provide the most complete and effective examination, attention is directed to d2 which, in a similar field of endeavor of wireless communication (see d2 para. 0002) discloses receiving, by a network device in a core network, a request for a Quality of Service (QoS) flow associated with a user equipment (UE) device (see d2 para. 0013-0016); determining, by the network device, whether to enable a Low-Latency, Low-Loss Scalable-Throughput (L4S) service for the QoS flow (see d2 para. 0048-0049, 0141-0142, 0151, 0157, 0176, Fig. 6 para. 0182); and notifying, by the network device and based on the determining, a Session Management Function (SMF) to create the QoS flow with the L4S service enabled (see d2 para. 0013-0016, 0150, 0182).
As to the limitation “determining whether to enable the L4S service includes identifying whether the UE device supports the L4S service” is not found in d1 in view of d2. The Examiner maintains, even as amended the teaching is not only present but also obvious from the teaching in d1 in view of d2. D1 in view of d2 discloses determining whether to enable the L4S service (see at least d1 para. 0035, 0040-0047, 0056-0062, 0065) based on identifying support for L4S service (see d1 para. 0033, 0045, 0078, 0081, 0109, 0116, 0156, 0159-0160) which is also supported by d2 in the combination of d1 in view of d2 (see d2 para. 0129, 0141-0142, 0151-0155). The disclosure of d1 in view of d2 support a QoS flow implementation (see d1 para. 0163, 0076-0084). Therefore, when viewed from the perspective of what one of ordinary skill in the art would understand from the cited disclosure, the limitation is at least obvious from the cited disclosure.
Regarding motivation to combine d2 and d1, D2 also contains ample teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference of d1 by combining it with the disclosure of d2 to arrive at the claimed invention including to provide, to a device, a low latency, low loss, and scalable (L4S) function for transferring the traffic of the XR device at low latency while linking the function to a QoS flow provided in a 5G network (see d2 para. 0012), as disclosed by d2. Wherein the teaching, suggestion, and/or motivation, is evident in references d1 and/or d2, as well as being found squarely within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would look to modify d1 with the teaching of d2 in order to achieve the stated advantages to improve communication requiring low latency, low loss (see d2 para. 0012). Furthermore, the techniques are employed in the same field of endeavor (Wireless Communication) in a similar manner (low loss, low latency communication) for similar purposes (improved performance) which would yield a reasonable expectation of success to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 2, as to the limitation “The method of claim 1, wherein the network device includes a Policy Control Function (PCF) for the core network” d1 in view of d2 suggests functionality reflective of used of PCF (see d1 para. 0081, d2 para. 0013-0016).
As to the limitation “determining whether the L4S service is appropriate for one of a Radio Access Network (RAN) only or the RAN plus a transport network for the QoS flow” d1 in view of d2 suggest consideration of RAN only and transport network plus RAN (see d2 para. 0067, 0070, 0103, 0129-0135, 0140-0141); wherein d1 in view of d2 also suggests functionality reflective of notifying a User Plane Function (UPF) to enable L4S marking for the QoS flow (see d1 Figs. 8, para. 0080-0084; d2 para. 0013-0016, 0058); wherein d1 in view of d2 also suggests functionality reflective of indicators for the L4S service (see d1 para. 0080, 0121-0124); d2 para. 0124, 0130, 0137, 0141, 0143, 0151); wherein d1 in view of d2 also suggests tunnel Internet Protocol (IP) address or a virtual local area network (VLAN) address (see d1 para. 0080, d2 para. 0064, 0197).
Regarding motivation to combine d2 and d1, D2 also contains ample teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference of d1 by combining it with the disclosure of d2 to arrive at the claimed invention including to provide, to a device, a low latency, low loss, and scalable (L4S) function for transferring the traffic of the XR device at low latency while linking the function to a QoS flow provided in a 5G network (see d2 para. 0012), as disclosed by d2. Wherein the teaching, suggestion, and/or motivation, is evident in references d1 and/or d2, as well as being found squarely within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would look to modify d1 with the teaching of d2 in order to achieve the stated advantages to improve communication requiring low latency, low loss (see d2 para. 0012). Furthermore, the techniques are employed in the same field of endeavor (Wireless Communication) in a similar manner (low loss, low latency communication) for similar purposes (improved performance) which would yield a reasonable expectation of success to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 3, as to the limitation “The method of claim 1, wherein the determining further comprises: identifying whether an operating system of the UE device supports the L4S service, or confirming that an application function associated with the QoS flow is responsive to congestion marking for the L4S service” d1 in view of d2 suggests functionality reflective of identifying support for L4S (see d1 para. 0032, 0037-0040; d2 para. 0176) and/or confirming responsiveness to L4S congestion marking (see d1 para. 0084; Figs. 8; d2 para. 0068, 0176).
Regarding motivation to combine d2 and d1, D2 also contains ample teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference of d1 by combining it with the disclosure of d2 to arrive at the claimed invention including to provide, to a device, a low latency, low loss, and scalable (L4S) function for transferring the traffic of the XR device at low latency while linking the function to a QoS flow provided in a 5G network (see d2 para. 0012), as disclosed by d2. Wherein the teaching, suggestion, and/or motivation, is evident in references d1 and/or d2, as well as being found squarely within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would look to modify d1 with the teaching of d2 in order to achieve the stated advantages to improve communication requiring low latency, low loss (see d2 para. 0012). Furthermore, the techniques are employed in the same field of endeavor (Wireless Communication) in a similar manner (low loss, low latency communication) for similar purposes (improved performance) which would yield a reasonable expectation of success to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 4, as to the limitation “The method of claim 1, wherein the determining further comprises: verifying that a subscription of the UE device associated with the QoS flow includes the L4S service, and confirming that the L4S service is within current service limits of the subscription” d1 in view of d2 suggests functionality reflective of verifying a subscription to a service (see d2 para. 0061, 0065-0066, 0104, 0167) which are reflective of subscription limits (as is understood by one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing).
Regarding motivation to combine d2 and d1, D2 also contains ample teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference of d1 by combining it with the disclosure of d2 to arrive at the claimed invention including to provide, to a device, a low latency, low loss, and scalable (L4S) function for transferring the traffic of the XR device at low latency while linking the function to a QoS flow provided in a 5G network (see d2 para. 0012), as disclosed by d2. Wherein the teaching, suggestion, and/or motivation, is evident in references d1 and/or d2, as well as being found squarely within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would look to modify d1 with the teaching of d2 in order to achieve the stated advantages to improve communication requiring low latency, low loss (see d2 para. 0012). Furthermore, the techniques are employed in the same field of endeavor (Wireless Communication) in a similar manner (low loss, low latency communication) for similar purposes (improved performance) which would yield a reasonable expectation of success to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 5, as to the limitation “The method of claim 1, wherein the determining further comprises: verifying that a subscription of the UE device includes the L4S service, or identifying the request as a request from a Network Exposure Function (NEF)” d1 in view of d2 suggests functionality reflective of verifying that a subscription of the UE device includes a service (see d2 para. 0061, 0065-0066, 0104, 0167) and/or a request from a Network Exposure Function (NEF) (see d1 para. 0081; d2 para. 0058, 0072, 0078).
Regarding motivation to combine d2 and d1, D2 also contains ample teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference of d1 by combining it with the disclosure of d2 to arrive at the claimed invention including to provide, to a device, a low latency, low loss, and scalable (L4S) function for transferring the traffic of the XR device at low latency while linking the function to a QoS flow provided in a 5G network (see d2 para. 0012), as disclosed by d2. Wherein the teaching, suggestion, and/or motivation, is evident in references d1 and/or d2, as well as being found squarely within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would look to modify d1 with the teaching of d2 in order to achieve the stated advantages to improve communication requiring low latency, low loss (see d2 para. 0012). Furthermore, the techniques are employed in the same field of endeavor (Wireless Communication) in a similar manner (low loss, low latency communication) for similar purposes (improved performance) which would yield a reasonable expectation of success to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 6, as to the limitation “The method of claim 1, further comprising: retrieving, from a data repository function and based on the receiving, subscription information for the UE device associated with the QoS flow” d1 in view of d2 suggests functionality reflective of retrieving a subscription for the UE device associated with the QoS flow (see d2 para. 0061, 0065-0066, 0104, 0167).
Regarding motivation to combine d2 and d1, D2 also contains ample teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference of d1 by combining it with the disclosure of d2 to arrive at the claimed invention including to provide, to a device, a low latency, low loss, and scalable (L4S) function for transferring the traffic of the XR device at low latency while linking the function to a QoS flow provided in a 5G network (see d2 para. 0012), as disclosed by d2. Wherein the teaching, suggestion, and/or motivation, is evident in references d1 and/or d2, as well as being found squarely within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would look to modify d1 with the teaching of d2 in order to achieve the stated advantages to improve communication requiring low latency, low loss (see d2 para. 0012). Furthermore, the techniques are employed in the same field of endeavor (Wireless Communication) in a similar manner (low loss, low latency communication) for similar purposes (improved performance) which would yield a reasonable expectation of success to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 7, as to the limitation “The method of claim 1, further comprising: notifying, by the SMF, a User Plane Function (UPF) to enable L4S marking for the QoS flow over a transport domain” d1 in view of d2 suggests functionality reflective of notifying a User Plane Function (UPF) to enable L4S marking for the QoS flow (see d1 Figs. 8, para. 0080-0084; d2 para. 0013-0016, 0058).
Regarding motivation to combine d2 and d1, D2 also contains ample teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference of d1 by combining it with the disclosure of d2 to arrive at the claimed invention including to provide, to a device, a low latency, low loss, and scalable (L4S) function for transferring the traffic of the XR device at low latency while linking the function to a QoS flow provided in a 5G network (see d2 para. 0012), as disclosed by d2. Wherein the teaching, suggestion, and/or motivation, is evident in references d1 and/or d2, as well as being found squarely within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would look to modify d1 with the teaching of d2 in order to achieve the stated advantages to improve communication requiring low latency, low loss (see d2 para. 0012). Furthermore, the techniques are employed in the same field of endeavor (Wireless Communication) in a similar manner (low loss, low latency communication) for similar purposes (improved performance) which would yield a reasonable expectation of success to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 8, as to the limitation “The method of claim 1, further comprising: notifying, by the SMF, an access and mobility management function (AMF) to enable L4S marking for the QoS flow over a Radio Access Network (RAN)” d1 in view of d2 suggests functionality reflective of notifying, an AMF to enable L4S marking for the QoS flow (see d1 Figs. 8, para. 0083-0086; d2 para. 0013-0016, 0058, 0061).
Regarding motivation to combine d2 and d1, D2 also contains ample teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference of d1 by combining it with the disclosure of d2 to arrive at the claimed invention including to provide, to a device, a low latency, low loss, and scalable (L4S) function for transferring the traffic of the XR device at low latency while linking the function to a QoS flow provided in a 5G network (see d2 para. 0012), as disclosed by d2. Wherein the teaching, suggestion, and/or motivation, is evident in references d1 and/or d2, as well as being found squarely within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would look to modify d1 with the teaching of d2 in order to achieve the stated advantages to improve communication requiring low latency, low loss (see d2 para. 0012). Furthermore, the techniques are employed in the same field of endeavor (Wireless Communication) in a similar manner (low loss, low latency communication) for similar purposes (improved performance) which would yield a reasonable expectation of success to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 9, as to the limitation “The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving includes: receiving, via a Network Exposure Function (NEF), the request from an application function” d1 in view of d2 suggests functionality reflective of receiving, via a Network Exposure Function (NEF) a request (see d1 para. 0081; d2 para. 0058, 0072, 0078).
Regarding motivation to combine d2 and d1, D2 also contains ample teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference of d1 by combining it with the disclosure of d2 to arrive at the claimed invention including to provide, to a device, a low latency, low loss, and scalable (L4S) function for transferring the traffic of the XR device at low latency while linking the function to a QoS flow provided in a 5G network (see d2 para. 0012), as disclosed by d2. Wherein the teaching, suggestion, and/or motivation, is evident in references d1 and/or d2, as well as being found squarely within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would look to modify d1 with the teaching of d2 in order to achieve the stated advantages to improve communication requiring low latency, low loss (see d2 para. 0012). Furthermore, the techniques are employed in the same field of endeavor (Wireless Communication) in a similar manner (low loss, low latency communication) for similar purposes (improved performance) which would yield a reasonable expectation of success to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 10, as to the limitation “The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving includes: receiving a session setup request or a session modification request” d1 in view of d2 suggests functionality reflective of receiving a session setup request or a session modification request (see d1 para. 0086; d2 para. 0013-0016, 0064, 0123).
Regarding motivation to combine d2 and d1, D2 also contains ample teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference of d1 by combining it with the disclosure of d2 to arrive at the claimed invention including to provide, to a device, a low latency, low loss, and scalable (L4S) function for transferring the traffic of the XR device at low latency while linking the function to a QoS flow provided in a 5G network (see d2 para. 0012), as disclosed by d2. Wherein the teaching, suggestion, and/or motivation, is evident in references d1 and/or d2, as well as being found squarely within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would look to modify d1 with the teaching of d2 in order to achieve the stated advantages to improve communication requiring low latency, low loss (see d2 para. 0012). Furthermore, the techniques are employed in the same field of endeavor (Wireless Communication) in a similar manner (low loss, low latency communication) for similar purposes (improved performance) which would yield a reasonable expectation of success to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 11, as to the limitation “The method of claim 1, wherein the notifying includes: providing transport domain indicators for the L4S service” d1 in view of d2 suggests functionality reflective of indicators for the L4S service (see d1 para. 0080, 0121-0124); d2 para. 0124, 0130, 0137, 0141, 0143, 0151).
Regarding motivation to combine d2 and d1, D2 also contains ample teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference of d1 by combining it with the disclosure of d2 to arrive at the claimed invention including to provide, to a device, a low latency, low loss, and scalable (L4S) function for transferring the traffic of the XR device at low latency while linking the function to a QoS flow provided in a 5G network (see d2 para. 0012), as disclosed by d2. Wherein the teaching, suggestion, and/or motivation, is evident in references d1 and/or d2, as well as being found squarely within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would look to modify d1 with the teaching of d2 in order to achieve the stated advantages to improve communication requiring low latency, low loss (see d2 para. 0012). Furthermore, the techniques are employed in the same field of endeavor (Wireless Communication) in a similar manner (low loss, low latency communication) for similar purposes (improved performance) which would yield a reasonable expectation of success to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 12, as to the limitation “The method of claim 11, wherein the transport domain indicators include one of a tunnel Internet Protocol (IP) address or a virtual local area network (VLAN) address” d1 in view of d2 suggests tunnel Internet Protocol (IP) address or a virtual local area network (VLAN) address (see d1 para. 0080, d2 para. 0064, 0197).
Regarding motivation to combine d2 and d1, D2 also contains ample teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference of d1 by combining it with the disclosure of d2 to arrive at the claimed invention including to provide, to a device, a low latency, low loss, and scalable (L4S) function for transferring the traffic of the XR device at low latency while linking the function to a QoS flow provided in a 5G network (see d2 para. 0012), as disclosed by d2. Wherein the teaching, suggestion, and/or motivation, is evident in references d1 and/or d2, as well as being found squarely within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would look to modify d1 with the teaching of d2 in order to achieve the stated advantages to improve communication requiring low latency, low loss (see d2 para. 0012). Furthermore, the techniques are employed in the same field of endeavor (Wireless Communication) in a similar manner (low loss, low latency communication) for similar purposes (improved performance) which would yield a reasonable expectation of success to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 13, as to the limitations “A system, comprising: at least one network device in a core network, the network device configured to:” d1 discloses techniques in the field of wireless communication (see d1 para. 0002) implemented as a system (see d1 Figs. 1-2) comprising at least a network device in a core network (see d1 Fig. 1, 146) and UE (see d1 Fig. 1, 102) a method, stored as instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors (see d1 para. 0185) cause the devices in the system to perform the method (see d1 Figs. 13-14);
As to the limitation “receive a request for a Quality of Service (QoS) flow associated with a user equipment (UE) device” d1 suggests functionality reflective of reception of a request by a device associated with a core network with associated QoS flow for a UE (see d1 Fig. 8, 836-844, para. 0086);
As to the limitation “determine whether to enable a Low-Latency, Low-Loss Scalable-Throughput (L4S) service for the QoS flow” d1 suggests functionality reflective of configuration of enabling L4S for a QoS flow (see d1 Figs. 8, 886-894, para. 0076, 0078-0087, 0093-0095);
As to the limitation “notifying, based on the determining, a Session Management Function (SMF) to create the QoS flow with L4S service enabled” d1 suggests functionality reflective of notification of creating of a QoS flow with L4S (see d1 Figs. 8, para. 0075, 0080, 0084);
As to the limitation “determining whether to enable the L4S service includes identifying whether the UE device supports the L4S service” is not found in d1 in view of d2. The Examiner maintains, even as amended the teaching is not only present but also obvious from the teaching in d1 in view of d2. D1 in view of d2 discloses determining whether to enable the L4S service (see at least d1 para. 0035, 0040-0047, 0056-0062, 0065) based on identifying support for L4S service (see d1 para. 0033, 0045, 0078, 0081, 0109, 0116, 0156, 0159-0160) which is also supported by d2 in the combination of d1 in view of d2 (see d2 para. 0129, 0141-0142, 0151-0155). The disclosure of d1 in view of d2 support a QoS flow implementation (see d1 para. 0163, 0076-0084). Therefore, when viewed from the perspective of what one of ordinary skill in the art would understand from the cited disclosure, the limitation is at least obvious from the cited disclosure.
d1 may not explicitly disclose all the limitations of the claims, the disclosure of d1 is particularly relevant to the limitation and may meet the requirements under a broadest reasonable interpretation, in order to provide the most complete and effective examination, attention is directed to d2 which, in a similar field of endeavor of wireless communication (see d2 para. 0002) discloses receiving, by a network device in a core network, a request for a Quality of Service (QoS) flow associated with a user equipment (UE) device (see d2 para. 0013-0016); determining, by the network device, whether to enable a Low-Latency, Low-Loss Scalable-Throughput (L4S) service for the QoS flow (see d2 para. 0048-0049, 0141-0142, 0151, 0157, 0176, Fig. 6 para. 0182); and notifying, by the network device and based on the determining, a Session Management Function (SMF) to create the QoS flow with the L4S service enabled (see d2 para. 0013-0016, 0150, 0182).
Regarding motivation to combine d2 and d1, D2 also contains ample teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference of d1 by combining it with the disclosure of d2 to arrive at the claimed invention including to provide, to a device, a low latency, low loss, and scalable (L4S) function for transferring the traffic of the XR device at low latency while linking the function to a QoS flow provided in a 5G network (see d2 para. 0012), as disclosed by d2. Wherein the teaching, suggestion, and/or motivation, is evident in references d1 and/or d2, as well as being found squarely within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would look to modify d1 with the teaching of d2 in order to achieve the stated advantages to improve communication requiring low latency, low loss (see d2 para. 0012). Furthermore, the techniques are employed in the same field of endeavor (Wireless Communication) in a similar manner (low loss, low latency communication) for similar purposes (improved performance) which would yield a reasonable expectation of success to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 14, as to the limitation “The system of claim 13, wherein the network device includes a Policy Control Function (PCF) for the core network” d1 in view of d2 suggests functionality reflective of used of PCF (see d1 para. 0081, d2 para. 0013-0016);
As to the limitation “determining whether the L4S service is appropriate for one of a Radio Access Network (RAN) only or the RAN plus a transport network for the QoS flow” d1 in view of d2 suggest consideration of RAN only and transport network plus RAN (see d2 para. 0067, 0070, 0103, 0129-0135, 0140-0141); wherein d1 in view of d2 also suggests functionality reflective of notifying a User Plane Function (UPF) to enable L4S marking for the QoS flow (see d1 Figs. 8, para. 0080-0084; d2 para. 0013-0016, 0058); wherein d1 in view of d2 also suggests functionality reflective of indicators for the L4S service (see d1 para. 0080, 0121-0124); d2 para. 0124, 0130, 0137, 0141, 0143, 0151); wherein d1 in view of d2 also suggests tunnel Internet Protocol (IP) address or a virtual local area network (VLAN) address (see d1 para. 0080, d2 para. 0064, 0197). The Examiner maintains that one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of filing would understand such disclosure to render obvious the limitations of claims 2 and 14.
Regarding motivation to combine d2 and d1, D2 also contains ample teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference of d1 by combining it with the disclosure of d2 to arrive at the claimed invention including to provide, to a device, a low latency, low loss, and scalable (L4S) function for transferring the traffic of the XR device at low latency while linking the function to a QoS flow provided in a 5G network (see d2 para. 0012), as disclosed by d2. Wherein the teaching, suggestion, and/or motivation, is evident in references d1 and/or d2, as well as being found squarely within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would look to modify d1 with the teaching of d2 in order to achieve the stated advantages to improve communication requiring low latency, low loss (see d2 para. 0012). Furthermore, the techniques are employed in the same field of endeavor (Wireless Communication) in a similar manner (low loss, low latency communication) for similar purposes (improved performance) which would yield a reasonable expectation of success to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claims 15-16, as to the limitation “The system of claim 13, wherein when determining whether to enable the L4S service, the at least one network device is further configured to: confirm that an application function associated with the QoS flow is responsive to congestion marking for the L4S service” and “The system of claim 13, wherein when determining whether to enable the L4S service, the network device is further configured to: identify whether an operating system of the UE device supports the L4S service” d1 in view of d2 suggests functionality reflective of identifying support for L4S (see d1 para. 0032, 0037-0040; d2 para. 0176) and/or confirming responsiveness to L4S congestion marking (see d1 para. 0084; Figs. 8; d2 para. 0068, 0176). The disclosure of use of L4S indicators reflecting support for L4S service (see d1 para. 0033, 0045, 0078, 0081, 0109, 0116, 0156, 0159-0160) which is also supported by d2 in the combination of d1 in view of d2 (see d2 para. 0129, 0141-0142, 0151-0155) carries an understood support of such by the OS, as would be commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of filing. The Examiner notes that it would be obvious that support by a system or device would include an understood support by the software/firmware and/or operating system to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of filing.
Regarding motivation to combine d2 and d1, D2 also contains ample teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference of d1 by combining it with the disclosure of d2 to arrive at the claimed invention including to provide, to a device, a low latency, low loss, and scalable (L4S) function for transferring the traffic of the XR device at low latency while linking the function to a QoS flow provided in a 5G network (see d2 para. 0012), as disclosed by d2. Wherein the teaching, suggestion, and/or motivation, is evident in references d1 and/or d2, as well as being found squarely within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would look to modify d1 with the teaching of d2 in order to achieve the stated advantages to improve communication requiring low latency, low loss (see d2 para. 0012). Furthermore, the techniques are employed in the same field of endeavor (Wireless Communication) in a similar manner (low loss, low latency communication) for similar purposes (improved performance) which would yield a reasonable expectation of success to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 17, as to the limitation “The system of claim 13, wherein when receiving the request, the at least one network device is further configured to: receive, via a Network Exposure Function (NEF), the request from an application function outside the core network” d1 in view of d2 suggests functionality reflective of receiving, via a Network Exposure Function (NEF) a request (see d1 para. 0081; d2 para. 0058, 0072, 0078).
Regarding motivation to combine d2 and d1, D2 also contains ample teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference of d1 by combining it with the disclosure of d2 to arrive at the claimed invention including to provide, to a device, a low latency, low loss, and scalable (L4S) function for transferring the traffic of the XR device at low latency while linking the function to a QoS flow provided in a 5G network (see d2 para. 0012), as disclosed by d2. Wherein the teaching, suggestion, and/or motivation, is evident in references d1 and/or d2, as well as being found squarely within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would look to modify d1 with the teaching of d2 in order to achieve the stated advantages to improve communication requiring low latency, low loss (see d2 para. 0012). Furthermore, the techniques are employed in the same field of endeavor (Wireless Communication) in a similar manner (low loss, low latency communication) for similar purposes (improved performance) which would yield a reasonable expectation of success to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 18, as to the limitation “The system of claim 13, wherein when notifying the SMF, the at least one network device is further configured to: provide a tunnel Internet Protocol (IP) address or a virtual local area network (VLAN) address for the L4S service” d1 in view of d2 suggests functionality reflective of receiving a session setup request or a session modification request functionality reflective of indicators for the L4S service (see d1 para. 0080, 0121-0124); d2 para. 0124, 0130, 0137, 0141, 0143, 0151), tunnel Internet Protocol (IP) address or a virtual local area network (VLAN) address (see d1 para. 0080, d2 para. 0064, 0197).
Regarding motivation to combine d2 and d1, D2 also contains ample teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference of d1 by combining it with the disclosure of d2 to arrive at the claimed invention including to provide, to a device, a low latency, low loss, and scalable (L4S) function for transferring the traffic of the XR device at low latency while linking the function to a QoS flow provided in a 5G network (see d2 para. 0012), as disclosed by d2. Wherein the teaching, suggestion, and/or motivation, is evident in references d1 and/or d2, as well as being found squarely within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would look to modify d1 with the teaching of d2 in order to achieve the stated advantages to improve communication requiring low latency, low loss (see d2 para. 0012). Furthermore, the techniques are employed in the same field of endeavor (Wireless Communication) in a similar manner (low loss, low latency communication) for similar purposes (improved performance) which would yield a reasonable expectation of success to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 19, as to the limitations “A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, which are executable by one or more processors, for:” d1 discloses techniques in the field of wireless communication (see d1 para. 0002) implemented as a system (see d1 Figs. 1-2) comprising at least a network device in a core network (see d1 Fig. 1, 146) and UE (see d1 Fig. 1, 102) a method, stored as instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors (see d1 para. 0185) cause the devices in the system to perform the method (see d1 Figs. 13-14);
As to the limitation “receiving, by a network device in a core network, a request for a Quality of Service (QoS) flow associated with a user equipment (UE) device” d1 suggests functionality reflective of reception of a request by a device associated with a core network with associated QoS flow for a UE (see d1 Fig. 8, 836-844, para. 0086);
As to the limitation “determining, by the network device, whether to enable a Low-Latency, Low-Loss Scalable-Throughput (L4S) service for the QoS flow” d1 suggests functionality reflective of configuration of enabling L4S for a QoS flow (see d1 Figs. 8, 886-894, para. 0076, 0078-0087, 0093-0095);
As to the limitation “notifying, by the network device and based on the determining, a Session Management Function (SMF) to create the QoS flow with the L4S service enabled” d1 suggests functionality reflective of notification of creating of a QoS flow with L4S (see d1 Figs. 8, para. 0075, 0080, 0084);
As to the limitation “determining whether to enable the L4S service includes identifying whether the UE device supports the L4S service” is not found in d1 in view of d2. The Examiner maintains, even as amended the teaching is not only present but also obvious from the teaching in d1 in view of d2. D1 in view of d2 discloses determining whether to enable the L4S service (see at least d1 para. 0035, 0040-0047, 0056-0062, 0065) based on identifying support for L4S service (see d1 para. 0033, 0045, 0078, 0081, 0109, 0116, 0156, 0159-0160) which is also supported by d2 in the combination of d1 in view of d2 (see d2 para. 0129, 0141-0142, 0151-0155). The disclosure of d1 in view of d2 support a QoS flow implementation (see d1 para. 0163, 0076-0084). Therefore, when viewed from the perspective of what one of ordinary skill in the art would understand from the cited disclosure, the limitation is at least obvious from the cited disclosure.
d1 may not explicitly disclose all the limitations of the claims, the disclosure of d1 is particularly relevant to the limitation and may meet the requirements under a broadest reasonable interpretation, in order to provide the most complete and effective examination, attention is directed to d2 which, in a similar field of endeavor of wireless communication (see d2 para. 0002) discloses receiving, by a network device in a core network, a request for a Quality of Service (QoS) flow associated with a user equipment (UE) device (see d2 para. 0013-0016); determining, by the network device, whether to enable a Low-Latency, Low-Loss Scalable-Throughput (L4S) service for the QoS flow (see d2 para. 0048-0049, 0141-0142, 0151, 0157, 0176, Fig. 6 para. 0182); and notifying, by the network device and based on the determining, a Session Management Function (SMF) to create the QoS flow with the L4S service enabled (see d2 para. 0013-0016, 0150, 0182).
Regarding motivation to combine d2 and d1, D2 also contains ample teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference of d1 by combining it with the disclosure of d2 to arrive at the claimed invention including to provide, to a device, a low latency, low loss, and scalable (L4S) function for transferring the traffic of the XR device at low latency while linking the function to a QoS flow provided in a 5G network (see d2 para. 0012), as disclosed by d2. Wherein the teaching, suggestion, and/or motivation, is evident in references d1 and/or d2, as well as being found squarely within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would look to modify d1 with the teaching of d2 in order to achieve the stated advantages to improve communication requiring low latency, low loss (see d2 para. 0012). Furthermore, the techniques are employed in the same field of endeavor (Wireless Communication) in a similar manner (low loss, low latency communication) for similar purposes (improved performance) which would yield a reasonable expectation of success to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 20, as to the limitation “The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the network device includes a Policy Control Function (PCF) wherein the instructions for determining further comprise instructions for: identifying whether an operating system of the UE device supports the L4S service, and confirming that an application function associated with the QoS flow is responsive to congestion marking for the L4S service” d1 in view of d2 suggests functionality reflective of used of PCF (see d1 para. 0081, d2 para. 0013-0016) and identifying support for L4S (see d1 para. 0032, 0037-0040; d2 para. 0176) and/or confirming responsiveness to L4S congestion marking (see d1 para. 0084; Figs. 8; d2 para. 0068, 0176).
Regarding motivation to combine d2 and d1, D2 also contains ample teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference of d1 by combining it with the disclosure of d2 to arrive at the claimed invention including to provide, to a device, a low latency, low loss, and scalable (L4S) function for transferring the traffic of the XR device at low latency while linking the function to a QoS flow provided in a 5G network (see d2 para. 0012), as disclosed by d2. Wherein the teaching, suggestion, and/or motivation, is evident in references d1 and/or d2, as well as being found squarely within the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would look to modify d1 with the teaching of d2 in order to achieve the stated advantages to improve communication requiring low latency, low loss (see d2 para. 0012). Furthermore, the techniques are employed in the same field of endeavor (Wireless Communication) in a similar manner (low loss, low latency communication) for similar purposes (improved performance) which would yield a reasonable expectation of success to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Conclusion
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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/NATHAN S TAYLOR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643