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 .
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-7, 13, 15-19, 22, 24-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al (US 20250203709) Kim et al (US 20250008309) and further in view of Kalkunte et al (US 20220400533).
As to claim 1 and 24 Chen discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) and a method (Chen, Fig.1 - Terminal device 110, Fig.12 ), comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors (Chen ¶0146), coupled to the one or more memories, configured to cause the UE to: signal an indication of a start of a multiple user subscriber identity module (MUSIM) gap and an indication of an end of the MUSIM gap (Chen Fig.2 ¶0131- FIG. 2, the gap length indicates a duration of the MUSIM gap, in other words, the MUSIM device may be temporarily handed over from the network A to the network B in time domain of the gap length. For example, the gap length is in a unit of milliseconds (ms), and the gap length may be 1.5 ms, 3 ms, 3.5 ms, 4 ms, 5.5 ms, 6 ms, 10 ms, or 20 ms.¶0133-The gap offset is for determining a start position of the gap period; ¶0165-¶0166, s510-the terminal device determines a first time domain resource, where the first time domain resource is a time domain resource for carrying a channel or a signal Fig.17, ¶0306-When a time period from the start moment of the first MUSIM gap to the end moment of the first MUSIM gap is less than a third threshold, perform MUSIM gap measurement on a part of the first MUSIM gap ); and transmit, by the UE information associated with the MUSIM gap (Chen ¶0190- 1st sentence- the terminal device … maintains the active state of the first MUSIM gap, so that service transmission performance can be effectively ensured).
Chen however is silent where the UE entails signaling by a modem of the UE to an application component of the UE via across-layer application programming interface (API) and transmitting, by the application component of the UE to an edge device. However, in an analogous art Kim remedies this deficiency: Kim, Fig.1, and 4, ¶0035-¶0036; ¶0100, s445- the modem 401-3 in the UE 401 transfers information … related to whether to allow API invocation related to the network function exposure service accessible by the corresponding UE subscriber, which is provided from the AMF 402, to an higher layer application client (AC) 401-1 and/or a dedicated client .. 401-2). Therefor it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teachings of Chen with that of Kim for the purpose of incorporating an edge computing service and providing and API for edge application programs for a UE (Kim ¶0049).
Both Chen and Kim however are silent wherein the transmission by the application component of the UE to the edge device is via in-band signaling. However, in an analogous art Kalkunte remedies this deficiency: (Kalkunte ¶0079-1st – 3rd sentences- The control circuitry 314 may be further configured to communicate a request to a first inference server (such as the inference server 118A) of the plurality of inference servers 118 based on the received first connection request….. The request may be made by ..an in-band communication); ¶0079- penultimate sentence- The first edge device (e.g., the edge device 112A) may be further configured to service the one or more user UEs 106, such as the first UE 106A and the second UE 106B within the vehicle 116N). Therefor it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the combined teachings of Chen and Kim with that of Kalkunte for the purpose of indicating an end or start of the MUSIM gap.
As to claims 2 and 25 the combined teachings of Chen , Kim and Kalkunte disclose the apparatus and method of claims 1 and 24 respectively, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the application component of the UE to transmit the information associated with the MUSIM gap, are configured to cause the application component of the UE to transmit, to the edge device via in-band signaling, the indication of the start of the MUSIM gap and the indication of the end of the MUSIM gap (Chen Fig.17, ¶0306-When a time period from the start moment of the first MUSIM gap to the end moment of the first MUSIM gap is less than a third threshold, perform MUSIM gap measurement on a part of the first MUSIM gap ).
As to claim 3 the combined teachings of Chen, Kim and Kalkunte disclose the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the application component of the UE to transmit the information associated with the MUSIM gap, are configured to cause the application component of the UE to transmit, to the edge device via in-band signaling, an indication of an availability of a radio link for communications that include the MUSIM gap (Chen ¶0118- The network device may communicate with the terminal device through a radio link. For example, the network device 120 may send configuration information to the terminal device 110, and the terminal device 110 may send uplink data to the network device 120 based on the configuration information).
As to claim 4 the combined teachings of Chen, Kim and Kalkunte disclose the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indication of the end of the MUSIM gap is an indication of a duration of the MUSIM gap (Chen ¶0131-¶0132- As shown in FIG. 2, the gap length indicates a duration of the MUSIM gap).
As to claims 5 and 26 the combined teachings of Chen, Kim and Kalkunte disclose the apparatus and method of claims 1 and 24 respectively, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the application component of the UE to transmit, to the modem of the UE, an indication of a minimum duration of the MUSIM gap, wherein the indication of the start of the MUSIM gap and the indication of the end of the MUSIM gap are based at least in part on the indication of the minimum duration of the MUSIM gap (Chen ¶0202- the first offset indicates a time domain position at which the terminal device determines whether to deactivate the first MUSIM gap. In other words, the first offset is a minimum offset time period of the first moment at which the terminal device determines whether to deactivate the first MUSIM gap before the start moment of the first MUSIM gap.).
As to claims 6 and 27 the combined teachings of Chen, Kim and Kalkunte disclose the apparatus and method of claims 1 and 24 respectively, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the application component of the UE to signal, to the modem of the UE, an indication of a minimum distance between the MUSIM gap and a subsequent MUSIM gap (Chen ¶0316- When a time period from a start moment of the second MUSIM gap to an end moment of the second MUSIM gap is less than a third threshold, perform MUSIM gap measurement on a part of the second MUSIM gap).
As to claim 7 the combined teachings of Chen, Kim and Kalkunte disclose the apparatus of claim 6, wherein the minimum distance between the MUSIM gap and the subsequent MUSIM gap is a minimum distance between an end of the MUSIM gap and a start of the subsequent MUSIM gap (Chen ¶0316- When a time period from a start moment of the second MUSIM gap to an end moment of the second MUSIM gap).
As to claim 13 the combined teachings of Chen, Kim and Kalkunte disclose the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the application component of the UE to apply an uplink service flow that is based at least in part on the information associated with the MUSIM gap- uplink service flow interpreted as service data transmission between network and MUSIM device (Chen ¶0135- 1st sentence- When the MUSIM device keeps in the RRC connection state in the network A, and service data transmission exists between the network device corresponding to the network A and the MUSIM device, a service data transmission rate is in a unit of frames per second (FPS) ¶0139).
As to claim 15 the combined teachings of Chen, Kim and Kalkunte disclose the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the UE is an extended reality device that includes the modem and the application component (Chen ¶0139- last sentence- The 5G communication system gradually penetrates into some multimedia services with strong real-time performance and a requirement for a large data capacity, for example, video transmission, cloud gaming (CG), and extended reality (XR).
As to claim 16 and 24 Chen discloses an apparatus for wireless communication and a method (Fig.1, Network device- 120, 130), comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories (Chen Fig. 13, ¶0356- 3rd sentence), configured to: receive information associated with a multiple user subscriber identity module (MUSIM) gap (Chen ¶0118; ¶0126- ¶0129-the MUSIM device still keeps in an RRC connected state in the network A, temporarily performs cell identification and measurement on a serving cell corresponding to the network B in an MUSIM gap, and monitors a paging message sent by a network device corresponding to the network B. The MUSIM gap is configured by the network A for the MUSIM device); and transmit, to the UE, one or more frames based at least in part on the information associated with the MUSIM gap (Chen ¶0134- ¶0135- a service data transmission rate is in a unit of frames per second (FPS). If the service data transmission rate is N frames per second, a period in which a frame of the service data transmission arrives (referred to as a first period) is 1/N second.).
Chen however is silent where the apparatus is an edge device configured to receive from an application component of a user equipment (UE) the information associated with the (MUSIM) gap. However, in an analogous art Kim remedies this deficiency:(Kim, Fig.1, and 4, ¶0035-¶0036; ¶0100, s445). Therefor it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teachings of Chen with that of Kim for the purpose of incorporating an edge computing service and providing and API for edge application programs for a UE (Kim ¶0049).
Both Chen and Kim however are silent wherein the transmission by the application component of the UE to the edge device is via in-band signaling. However, in an analogous art Kalkunte remedies this deficiency: Kalkunte ¶0079-1st – 3rd sentences- The control circuitry 314 may be further configured to communicate a request to a first inference server (such as the inference server 118A) of the plurality of inference servers 118 based on the received first connection request….. The request may be made by ..an in-band communication); ¶0079- penultimate sentence- The first edge device (e.g., the edge device 112A) may be further configured to service the one or more user UEs 106, such as the first UE 106A and the second UE 106B within the vehicle 116N). Therefor it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the combined teachings of Chen and Kim with that of Kalkunte for the purpose of indicating an end or start of the MUSIM gap.
As to claims 17 and 29 the combined teachings of Chen, Kim and Kalkunte disclose the apparatus and method of claims 16 and 28 respectively, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the edge device to receive the information associated with the MUSIM gap, are configured to cause the edge device to receive, from the application component of the UE via in-band signaling, an indication of a start of the MUSIM gap and an indication of an end of the MUSIM gap (Chen Fig.17, ¶0306-When a time period from the start moment of the first MUSIM gap to the end moment of the first MUSIM gap is less than a third threshold, perform MUSIM gap measurement on a part of the first MUSIM gap).
As to claim 18 and 30 the combined teachings of Chen, Kim and Kalkunte disclose the apparatus and method of claims 16 and 28 respectively, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the edge device to receive the information associated with the MUSIM gap, are configured to cause the edge device to receive, from the application component of the UE via in-band signaling, an indication of an availability of a radio link for communications that include the MUSIM gap(Chen ¶0118- The network device may communicate with the terminal device through a radio link. For example, the network device 120 may send configuration information to the terminal device 110, and the terminal device 110 may send uplink data to the network device 120 based on the configuration information)..
As to claim 19 the combined teachings of Chen, Kim and Kalkunte disclose the apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the edge device to receive the information associated with the MUSIM gap, are configured to cause the edge device to receive, from the application component of the UE via in-band signaling, an indication of a start of the MUSIM gap and an indication of a duration of the MUSIM gap(Chen ¶0131-¶0132- As shown in FIG. 2, the gap length indicates a duration of the MUSIM gap)..
As to claim 22 the combined teachings of Chen, Kim and Kalkunte disclose the apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the edge device to apply a downlink service flow that is based at least in part on the information associated with the MUSIM gap- downlink service flow interpreted as service data transmission between network and MUSIM device (Chen ¶0135- 1st sentence- When the MUSIM device keeps in the RRC connection state in the network A, and service data transmission exists between the network device corresponding to the network A and the MUSIM device, a service data transmission rate is in a unit of frames per second (FPS) ¶0139).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-12, 14, 20-21 and 23 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.
Conclusion
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/DERRICK V ROSE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462