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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
2. A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 05/29/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
3. Applicant’s Submission filed on 05/29/2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 13, 16, 18 are pending in the application. Claims 1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 13, 16, 18 have been amended and claim 2, 4-5, 7, 9-10, 12, 14-15, 17, 19-20 have been canceled.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 05/29/2026 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of (US-20260059357-A1).
A) Regarding independent claims 1, 6, 11, 16 see the U.S.C. 103 rejection below.
B) Regarding dependent claims 3, 8, 13, 18, see the U.S.C. 103 rejection below.
The Claim Rejections section below details the rejections of the instant claims.
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, 3, 6, 8, 11, 13, 16, 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Parichehrehteroujeni et al. (US-20240056872-A1), in view of Kumar (US-20250330846-A1), and further in view of Kuo et al. (US-20260059357-A1).
As to claims 1, 3, 6, 8 see similar rejections to claim 11, 13, 16, 18 respectively.
Regarding claim 11 (Currently Amended), Parichehrehteroujeni teaches a user equipment (UE) comprising: at least one transceiver at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one transceiver; and at least one memory, communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, storing instructions executable by the at least one processor individually or in any combination to cause the UE to (Fig. 12, [0087] and [0220], describe the UE in WCS has a RF transceiver circuitry and processor coupled with a memory and configured to perform the method functions as stated in [0197] “For example, processing circuitry 1170 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium 1180 or in memory within processing circuitry 1170. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features, functions”, see Figs. 20-21), receive, from a base station, configuration information on an application layer measurement, wherein the configuration information, includes information on service type indicating a quality of experience (QoE) measurement (Abstract states that receiving, from a base station, a request to perform one or more QoE measurements according to a QoE measurement configuration, see also Figs. 9-10, where [0036]-[0037] describes how the QoE measurement collection enables configuration of application layer measurements in the UE, see also [0040], [0044] and [0050]. [0051] and its Table illustrate the service types, such as QoEStreaming, QoEMTS, which indicates the configuration is specific to the type of service for which QoE is measured, see also [0056] ant its Table, [0133] and [0144]),
discard the stored application layer measurement report, in case that the AS layer memory for a QoE measurement report is full ([0157]-[0175] illustrate different scenarios for discarding that can be performed in Step 910 in Fig. 9 as state” in step 910, responsive to a determination that the storage portion has reached the configured maximum size (i.e., is full to that size), the wireless device or UE may take one or more actions. Thus, the UE actions when the maximum size is reached may be specified. Examples of UE actions are as follows: [0158] The UE stops the measurements, transmits the last report and deletes the configuration…. deletion of regular QoE reports or regular QoE report according to a priority)
and transmit, to the base station, the QoE measurement report in an RRC connected state, wherein the QoE measurement report includes the result of the QoE measurement ([0053] and [0315], “The UE can send QoE measurement results via UTRAN to the Collecting Entity using the “Measurement Report” RRC message “. [0062]-[0063] describes that the UE can transmit the QoE report in RRC connected mode. [0066], [0120] and [0315] provide that the QoE report serves as a container for the results of QoE measurement, the report collects these results and transmits them to the BS),
Parichehrehteroujeni fails to teach information indicating the application layer measurement in a radio resource control (RRC) idle state or an RRC inactive state, store, based on the configuration information, an application layer measurement report including a result of the QoE measurement performed in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state in an access stratum (AS) layer memory of the UE, and wherein the AS layer memory for the QoE measurement report in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state is additional to an AS layer memory for a QoE paused measurement report.
However, Kumar teaches information indicating the application layer measurement in a radio resource control (RRC) idle state or an RRC inactive state ([0054] states the UEs may also, receive communications while operating in other states such as RRC idle and inactive states (e.g., RRC_IDLE, RRC_INACTIVE), which implies the UE can receive information configuration and perform the and report the QoE accordingly. [0055] also confirms that “along with supporting the performance, reporting, or both of QoE measurements while a UE is in an idle or inactive state, techniques as described herein may beneficially support the use by a UE of different QoE measurement and reporting configurations when in different states (e.g., when in an idle or inactive state versus when in a connected state)”. [0133] states “QoE measurement and reporting configurations (e.g., QoE measurement and reporting configurations for MBS in idle and inactive states) for both RAN-visible and RAN-invisible QoE measurements may be indicated in an RRCRelease message (e.g., control message 310)” which means that the UE can receive, from a BS, configuration information for QoE measurement in RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state), store, based on the configuration information, an application layer measurement report including a result of the QoE measurement performed in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state in an access stratum (AS) layer memory of the UE (Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 describes performing QoE measurements in inactive state. [0134] states “the UE 115-a may be configured to perform QoE measurements while operating in the idle/inactive state, and may be configured to store the QoE measurements (e.g., in memory, AS, APP layer) until the UE 115-a transitions to the connected state and is able to transmit a QoE report 315 indicating the stored QoE measurement” that implies the UE performed the QoE measurements during the idle/inactive state and store the results in AS layer memory, as shown in Fig. 4 Step 450), and wherein the AS layer memory for the QoE measurement report in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state is additional to an AS layer memory for a QoE paused measurement report (Fig. 4 Steps 430 and 450-480, the figure illustrates that the QoE measurement report (first set of QoE measurements) and the second set of QoE measurements ( QoE passed measurement set), which can be resumed as shown in Step 475, can be stored in AS layer memory. [0134] states “QoE reporting may be paused, and QoE measurements (e.g., QoE reports 315) may be stored at the UE 115-a AS or APP layer until the UE 115-a returns to the connected state … and may be configured to store the QoE measurements (e.g., in memory, AS, APP layer) until the UE 115-a transitions to the connected state and is able to transmit a QoE report 315 indicating the stored QoE measurements.” that confirms the AS layer memory for QoE measurement report in idle/inactive state is an additional functionality to the AS layer memory for paused QoE measurement report as shown in Figs. 4-5.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Parichehrehteroujeni to incorporate the teachings of Kumar (in analogous art) by adding store, based on the configuration information, a result of the QoE measurement performed in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state in an access stratum (AS) layer memory of the UE for a QoE measurement report to ensure reserving the results until the network resumes reporting, which improve the service quality (Kumar, [0056], lines 24-32).
Parichehrehteroujeni and Kumar do not explicitly teach an identifier (ID) of the application layer measurement, wherein the application layer measurement report is associated with the ID of the application layer measurement, wherein the discarding is based on: wherein, in case that the configuration information further includes priority information of the configuration information, the stored application layer measurement report having the lowest priority is discarded,
However, Kuo teaches an identifier (ID) of the application layer measurement ([0017] states “The QoE measurements, which may also be referred to as application layer measurements.” [0021] states “The pre-configuration may further include information such as QoE measurement configuration IDs and/or service types of applications. The pre-configuration may be dedicated to one or more specific QoE measurement configuration IDs and/or service types. For example, the pre-configuration may include an indication of which QoE measurement configuration IDs can trigger some aspects of QoE reporting, or which QoE measurement configuration IDs are associated with a certain priority level, etc.” see also [0029], [0035],[0048], [0080] and [0115] that confirms the method include the ID of application layer measurement, which is used along with the process of configuration, reporting, paging, and managing of application layer), wherein the application layer measurement report is associated with the ID of the application layer measurement ([0017] states “The QoE measurements, which may also be referred to as application layer measurements.” [0061] and [0039] states “The QoE report may include one or more measurement results from the buffer, which may be associated with a QoE measurement configuration ID, slice ID, or service type specified in the paging message 214. “ see also [0021] which means that the application layer measurement report is associated with the ID of the application layer measurement), wherein the discarding is based on: wherein, in case that the configuration information further includes priority information of the configuration information, the stored application layer measurement report having the lowest priority is discarded ([0021] states “In some aspects, the pre-configuration may specify one or more priority levels, and discard measurement results from the buffer based on the priority levels when necessary. “ and [0023] states “when the buffer capacity is exceeded, the UE may discard the lowest priority measurements. The UE may avoid discarding high priority measurements, and include the high priority measurements in the next QoE report. That depict when the configuration information includes priority information of the configuration information, the stored application layer measurement report having the lowest priority is discarded).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Parichehrehteroujeni in view of Kumar to incorporate the teachings of Kuo (in analogous art) by adding the stored application layer measurement report is discarded based on a storage order to ensure reserving the network resources for transmission (Kuo, [0020], lines 8-10).
Regarding claim 13 (Currently Amended), Parichehrehteroujeni, Kumar and Kuo teach the UE of claim 11.
Parichehrehteroujeni and Kumar fail to teach wherein, in case that the configuration information does not include the priority information of the configuration information, the stored application layer measurement report is discarded based on a storage order .
However, Kuo teaches wherein, in case that the configuration information does not include the priority information of the configuration information, the stored application layer measurement report is discarded based on a storage order ([0020] states “the buffered QoE measurements may exceed the maximum memory that the UE supports (e.g. a size of the buffer). The UE may discard the oldest measurements in the buffer, or stop collecting measurements entirely. “ and [0034] states “If a maximum size of the buffer is exceeded, the UE 101 may need to discard old measurements stored in the buffer to make room for new measurements to be stored. “, see also Figs. 7-8, [0071], and [0072] FIG. 7B depicts a second step of the buffer management process. The measurement result 714 (old data) is discarded, and the buffer 710 (new data) now has room to store measurement result 712. That confirms the stored application layer measurement report is discarded based on a storage order).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Parichehrehteroujeni in view of Kumar to incorporate the teachings of Kuo (in analogous art) by adding the stored application layer measurement report is discarded based on a storage order to ensure reserving the network resources for transmission (Kuo, [0020], lines 8-10).
Regarding claim 16 (Currently Amended), Parichehrehteroujeni teaches a base station comprising: at least one transceiver at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one transceiver and at least one memory, communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, storing instructions executable by the at least one processor individually or in any combination to cause the base station to (Fig. 12, [0087] and [0220], describe the UE in WCS has a RF transceiver circuitry and processor coupled with a memory and configured to perform the method functions as stated in [0197] “For example, processing circuitry 1170 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium 1180 or in memory within processing circuitry 1170. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features, functions”, see Figs. 20-21), and receive, from the UE, an application layer measurement report including a result of the QoE measurement in an RRC connected state, ([0053] and [0315], “The UE can send QoE measurement results via UTRAN to the Collecting Entity using the “Measurement Report” RRC message “. [0062]-[0063] describes that the UE can transmit the QoE report in RRC connected mode. [0066], [0120] and [0315] provide that the QoE report serves as a container for the results of QoE measurement, the report collects these results and transmits them to the BS), wherein the configuration information includes information on service type indicating a quality of experience (QoE) measurement (Abstract states that receiving, from a base station, a request to perform one or more QoE measurements according to a QoE measurement configuration, see also Figs. 9-10, where [0036]-[0037] describes how the QoE measurement collection enables configuration of application layer measurements in the UE, see also [0040], [0044] and [0050]. [0051] and its Table illustrate the service types, such as QoEStreaming, QoEMTS, which indicates the configuration is specific to the type of service for which QoE is measured, see also [0056] ant its Table, [0133] and [0144]),
transmit, to a user equipment (UE), configuration information on an application layer measurement ([0053] and [0315], “The UE can send QoE measurement results via UTRAN to the Collecting Entity using the “Measurement Report” RRC message “. [0062]-[0063] describes that the UE can transmit the QoE report in RRC connected mode. [0066], [0120] and [0315] provide that the QoE report serves as a container for the results of QoE measurement, the report collects these results and transmits them to the BS),
Parichehrehteroujeni fails to teach information indicating the application layer measurement in a radio resource control (RRC) idle state or an RRC inactive state, wherein the application layer measurement report including the result of the QoE measurement the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state is stored in an access stratum (AS) layer memory of the UE for a QoE measurement report in the RRC connected state, wherein the stored application layer measurement report is discarded, in case that the AS layer memory for the QoE measurement report is full, and wherein the AS layer memory for the QoE measurement report in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state is additional to an AS layer memory for a QoE paused measurement report.
However, Kumar teaches information indicating the application layer measurement in a radio resource control (RRC) idle state or an RRC inactive state ([0054] states the UEs may also, receive communications while operating in other states such as RRC idle and inactive states (e.g., RRC_IDLE, RRC_INACTIVE), which implies the UE can receive information configuration and perform the and report the QoE accordingly. [0055] also confirms that “along with supporting the performance, reporting, or both of QoE measurements while a UE is in an idle or inactive state, techniques as described herein may beneficially support the use by a UE of different QoE measurement and reporting configurations when in different states (e.g., when in an idle or inactive state versus when in a connected state)”. [0133] states “QoE measurement and reporting configurations (e.g., QoE measurement and reporting configurations for MBS in idle and inactive states) for both RAN-visible and RAN-invisible QoE measurements may be indicated in an RRCRelease message (e.g., control message 310)” which means that the UE can receive, from a BS, configuration information for QoE measurement in RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state), wherein the application layer measurement report including the result of the QoE measurement the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state is stored in an access stratum (AS) layer memory of the UE for a QoE measurement report in the RRC connected state (Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 describes performing QoE measurements in inactive state. [0134] states “the UE 115-a may be configured to perform QoE measurements while operating in the idle/inactive state, and may be configured to store the QoE measurements (e.g., in memory, AS, APP layer) until the UE 115-a transitions to the connected state and is able to transmit a QoE report 315 indicating the stored QoE measurement” that implies the UE performed the QoE measurements during the idle/inactive state and store the results in AS layer memory, as shown in Fig. 4 Step 450. [0006] also describes that the UE may perform QoE measurements while in the idle/inactive state, and may store QoE measurements in memory until the UE transitions to the connected state and can send a QoE report indicating stored measurements, see also [0106] and [0147]-[0148]), wherein the stored application layer measurement report is discarded, in case that the AS layer memory for the QoE measurement report is full ([0157]-[0175] illustrate different scenarios for discarding that can be performed in Step 910 in Fig. 9 as state” in step 910, responsive to a determination that the storage portion has reached the configured maximum size (i.e., is full to that size), the wireless device or UE may take one or more actions. Thus, the UE actions when the maximum size is reached may be specified. Examples of UE actions are as follows: [0158] The UE stops the measurements, transmits the last report and deletes the configuration…. deletion of regular QoE reports or regular QoE report according to a priority),
and wherein the AS layer memory for the QoE measurement report in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state is additional to an AS layer memory for a QoE paused measurement report (Fig. 4 Steps 430 and 450-480, the figure illustrates that the QoE measurement report (first set of QoE measurements) and the second set of QoE measurements ( QoE passed measurement set), which can be resumed as shown in Step 475, can be stored in AS layer memory. [0134] states “QoE reporting may be paused, and QoE measurements (e.g., QoE reports 315) may be stored at the UE 115-a AS or APP layer until the UE 115-a returns to the connected state … and may be configured to store the QoE measurements (e.g., in memory, AS, APP layer) until the UE 115-a transitions to the connected state and is able to transmit a QoE report 315 indicating the stored QoE measurements.” that confirms the AS layer memory for QoE measurement report in idle/inactive state is an additional functionality to the AS layer memory for paused QoE measurement report as shown in Figs. 4-5.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Parichehrehteroujeni to incorporate the teachings of Kumar (in analogous art) by adding store, based on the configuration information, a result of the QoE measurement performed in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state in an access stratum (AS) layer memory of the UE for a QoE measurement report to ensure reserving the results until the network resumes reporting, which improve the service quality (Kumar, [0056], lines 24-32).
Parichehrehteroujeni and Kumar do not explicitly teach wherein the application layer measurement report is associated with the ID of the application layer measurement , and an identifier (ID) of the application layer measurement, wherein, in case that the configuration information further includes priority information of the configuration information, the stored application layer measurement report having the lowest priority is discarded.
However, Kuo teaches wherein the application layer measurement report is associated with the ID of the application layer measurement ([0017] states “The QoE measurements, which may also be referred to as application layer measurements.” [0061] and [0039] states “The QoE report may include one or more measurement results from the buffer, which may be associated with a QoE measurement configuration ID, slice ID, or service type specified in the paging message 214. “ see also [0021] which means that the application layer measurement report is associated with the ID of the application layer measurement), and an identifier (ID) of the application layer measurement ([0017] states “The QoE measurements, which may also be referred to as application layer measurements.” [0021] states “The pre-configuration may further include information such as QoE measurement configuration IDs and/or service types of applications. The pre-configuration may be dedicated to one or more specific QoE measurement configuration IDs and/or service types. For example, the pre-configuration may include an indication of which QoE measurement configuration IDs can trigger some aspects of QoE reporting, or which QoE measurement configuration IDs are associated with a certain priority level, etc.” see also [0029], [0035],[0048], [0080] and [0115] that confirms the method include the ID of application layer measurement, which is used along with the process of configuration, reporting, paging, and managing of application layer), wherein, in case that the configuration information further includes priority information of the configuration information, the stored application layer measurement report having the lowest priority is discarded ([0021] states “In some aspects, the pre-configuration may specify one or more priority levels, and discard measurement results from the buffer based on the priority levels when necessary. “ and [0023] states “when the buffer capacity is exceeded, the UE may discard the lowest priority measurements. The UE may avoid discarding high priority measurements, and include the high priority measurements in the next QoE report. That depict when the configuration information includes priority information of the configuration information, the stored application layer measurement report having the lowest priority is discarded).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Parichehrehteroujeni in view of Kumar to incorporate the teachings of Kuo (in analogous art) by adding the stored application layer measurement report is discarded based on a storage order to ensure reserving the network resources for transmission (Kuo, [0020], lines 8-10).
Regarding claim 18 (Currently Amended) , Parichehrehteroujeni, Kumar and Kuo teach the base station of claim 16.
Parichehrehteroujeni and Kumar fail to teach wherein, in case that the configuration information does not include the priority information of the configuration information, the stored application layer measurement report is discarded based on a storage order
However, Kuo teaches wherein, in case that the configuration information does not include the priority information of the configuration information, the stored application layer measurement report is discarded based on a storage order ([0020] states “the buffered QoE measurements may exceed the maximum memory that the UE supports (e.g. a size of the buffer). The UE may discard the oldest measurements in the buffer, or stop collecting measurements entirely. “ and [0034] states “If a maximum size of the buffer is exceeded, the UE 101 may need to discard old measurements stored in the buffer to make room for new measurements to be stored. “, see also Figs 7-8, [0071], and [0072] FIG. 7B depicts a second step of the buffer management process. The measurement result 714 (old data) is discarded, and the buffer 710 (new data) now has room to store measurement result 712. That confirms the stored application layer measurement report is discarded based on a storage order).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Parichehrehteroujeni in view of Kumar to incorporate the teachings of Kuo (in analogous art) by adding the stored application layer measurement report is discarded based on a storage order to ensure reserving the network resources for transmission (Kuo, [0020], lines 8-10).
Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's
disclosure.
Kumar et al. (US-20220038934-A1), Johansson et al. (US-20220279385-A1), He et al. (US-20240236745-A1), Centonza et al. (US-20230231779-A1) and Babaei (WO-2023048127-A1) teach different methods of quality of experience (QoE) measurement and reporting.
Conclusion
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/SANAA AL SAMAHI/Examiner, Art Unit 2463
/ASAD M NAWAZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2463
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