DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Cross Reference to Related Applications
2. This application is a continuation and claims priority to International Application No. PCT/2021/125627, filed on October 22, 2021, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Claims status
3. This office action is a response to an application filed on March 11, 2024 in which claims 1-21 are pending for examination.
Drawings
4. The Examiner contends that the drawings submitted on March 11, 2024 are acceptable for examination proceedings.
Information Disclosure Statement
5. The Examiner has considered the reference(s) listed on the Information Disclosure Statement submitted on March 11, 2024, October 02, 2024 and December 31, 2024.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
6. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
7. A rejection on this statutory basis (35 U.S.C. 102(g) as in force on March 15, 2013) is appropriate in an application or patent that is examined under the first to file provisions of the AIA if it also contains or contained at any time (1) a claim to an invention having an effective filing date as defined in 35 U.S.C. 100(i) that is before March 16, 2013 or (2) a specific reference under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) to any patent or application that contains or contained at any time such a claim.
8. In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
9. Claims 7-13 and 17-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by 3GPP TR 23.757 V1.3.0 (2021-03) (“3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; Study on architecture enhancements for 5G multicast-broadcast services, as submitted by the applicant with IDS dated October 02, 2024), hereinafter “3GPP’757”.
Regarding claim 7, 3GPP’757 discloses a method for wireless communications (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1), comprising:
receiving, by a core network (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1), a request message from a first access node (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1, page 169, 170, source gNB) indicating a switch from a shared tunnel to a unicast tunnel for multicast and broadcast services (MBS) data (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1, Step 1, Step 2, Steps 3-4) for an ongoing MBS session (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1, page 169, 170, unicast PDU session with QoS flows associated with multicast session context); and
transmitting, in response to the switch to the unicast tunnel (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1, Step 10, Step 11, page 171, PDC session medication procedure), the MBS data for the ongoing MBS session via the unicast tunnel (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1, Step 10, Step 11, page 171, any data received on the assocaied QoS flows are buffered by the source NG RAN until RRC reconfiguration is complete).
Regarding claim 8, 3GPP’757 discloses transmitting, in response to the request message, a confirmation message to the first access node acknowledging the switch to the unicast tunnel (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1, Step 10, Step 11, page 171, PDU session modification procedure).
Regarding claim 9, 3GPP’757 discloses performing, by the core network, a handover procedure from the first access node to a second access node prior to transmitting the MBS data via the unicast tunnel to the second access node (Fig. 6.27.2.2-1, Step 2, Step 4, Step 5, page 166-167, handover procedure from the first access node to a second access node).
Regarding claim 10, 3GPP’757 discloses the core network includes a user plane function or an access and mobility management function (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1, Step 5).
Regarding claim 11, 3GPP’757 discloses the request message comprises information associated with the ongoing MBS session, and wherein the information includes an identifier of the ongoing MBS session or information regarding the shared tunnel (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1, page 153, 166-170, identifier of the ongoing MBS session or shared tunnel).
Regarding claim 12, 3GPP’757 discloses the request message comprises information associated with the unicast tunnel, and wherein the information includes an identifier of the unicast tunnel or Quality of Service (QoS) information associated with the unicast tunnel (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1, Step 1, Step 2, Step 3-4, page 166-167, 169-170, unicast PDU session with QoS flows associated with multicast session context).
Regarding claim 13, 3GPP’757 discloses the confirmation message comprises at least one of information of the ongoing MBS session, information of the unicast tunnel, an acknowledgement indicator indicating the switch has completed successfully, or Quality of Service (QoS) information associated with the unicast tunnel (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1, page 169-170, unicast PDU session with QoS flows associated with multicast session context).
Regarding claim 17, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 7.
Regarding claim 18, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 8.
Regarding claim 19, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 9.
Regarding claim 20, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 10.
Regarding claim 21, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 12.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
10. 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.
11. Claims 1-6 and 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP TR 23.757 V1.3.0 (2021-03) (“3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; Study on architecture enhancements for 5G multicast-broadcast services; as submitted by the applicant with IDS dated October 02, 2024), hereinafter “3GPP’757” in view of 3GPP TSG-RAN WG3#110-e (R3-206533, as submitted by the applicant with IDS dated March 11, 2024), hereinafter “3GPP’533”.
Regarding claim 1, 3GPP’757 discloses a method of wireless communication (Figs. 6.24.2.2-1a – 6.24.2.2-1b, 6.27.2.5-1), comprising:
requesting, upon determining by a first access node (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1, Step 1, Step 2, Step 3-4, page 153-154, 170, NG RAN or source gNB) to perform a handover procedure for handing over a wireless device (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1, Step 1, Step 2, Step 3-4, page 153-154, 170, UE) to a second access node (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1, Step 1, Step 2, Step 3-4, page 153-154, 170, non-MBMS capable node or target gNB), a switch of an ongoing multicast and broadcast services (MBS) session of the wireless device from a shared tunnel to a unicast tunnel with a core network (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1, Step 1, Step 2, Step 3-4, page 153-154, 170, handover to non-MBMS capable node; source gNB sends Unicast Delivery Request to SMF (Nsmf PDU session UpdateSMContextRequest)).
While 3GPP’757 implicitly refers to “initiating, after the switch, the handover procedure from the first access node to the second access node” (page 171, PDU session modification procedure), 3GPP’533 from the same or similar field of endeavor explicitly discloses initiating (page 1-2, Option 1, tunnel mode changed from shared tunnel to individual), after the switch , the handover procedure (page 1-2, Option 1, normal inter-gNB handover procedure) from the first access node to the second access node (page 1-2, Option 1, unicast QoS associated with multicast QoS flows via HANDOVER REQUEST message).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide “initiating, after the switch, the handover procedure from the first access node to the second access node” as taught by 3GPP’533, in the system of 3GPP’757, so that it would provide unicast solution that the shared tunnel is changed to individual tunnel before UE accesses to target gNB (3GPP’533, page 1).
Regarding claim 2, 3GPP’757 discloses determining, by the first access node prior to requesting the switch, that the second access node does not support MBS (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1, Step 1, Step 2, Step 3-4, page 153-154, 170-171, reason to switch depending on not supporting MBS).
Regarding claim 3, 3GPP’757 discloses requesting the switch comprises: transmitting, by the first access node, a request message to the core network indicating the switch to the unicast tunnel for MBS data for the ongoing MBS session, and receiving, by the first access node, a confirmation message from the core network acknowledging the switch to the unicast tunnel (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1, Step 1, Step 2, Step 3-4, Step 10-11, page 153-154, 170-171, PDU session modification procedure).
Regarding claim 4, 3GPP’757 discloses the request message comprises information associated with the ongoing MBS session, and wherein the information includes an identifier of the ongoing MBS session or information regarding the shared tunnel (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1, page 153, 166-170, identifier of the ongoing MBS session or shared tunnel).
Regarding claim 5, 3GPP’757 discloses the request message comprises information associated with the unicast tunnel, and wherein the information includes an identifier of the unicast tunnel or Quality of Service (QoS) information associated with the unicast tunnel (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1, Step 1, Step 2, Step 3-4, page 166-167, 169-170, unicast PDU session with QoS flows associated with multicast session context).
Regarding claim 6, 3GPP’757 discloses the confirmation message comprises at least one of information of the ongoing MBS session, information of the unicast tunnel, an acknowledgement indicator indicating the switch has completed successfully, or Quality of Service (QoS) information associated with the unicast tunnel (Fig. 6.27.2.5-1, page 169-170, unicast PDU session with QoS flows associated with multicast session context).
Regarding claim 14, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 15, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 2.
Regarding claim 16, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 3.
Citations of Pertinent Prior Art
12. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
• GRIOT et al. (US 2021/0352444 A1) entitled: "Handling Of Multicast Service Data Transport For Mobility Between Supporting And Non-Supporting Access Nodes"
• HONG et al. (US 2023/0082017 A1) entitled: "Method And Device For Processing MBS Data"
• JIA et al. (US 2022/0408162 A1) entitled: "Multicast Service Transmission Method And Apparatus"
• MOHAMMED MIKAEIL et al. (US 2024/0214875 A1) entitled: "User Equipment, Source Base Station, Target Base Station, And Handover Methods For UE MBS Mobility With Service Continuity"
• Xu et al. (US 2023/0362596 A1) entitled: "Communication Method And Apparatus"
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SITHU KO whose telephone number is 571-272-8647. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Friday 8:30am-5:00pmEST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Edan Orgad can be reached on 571-272-7884. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SITHU KO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414