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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
This office action is in response to applicant’s amendment and RCE filed, 17 February 2026, of application filed, with the above serial number, on 09 April 2024 in which claims 1, 3, 6, 11-13, 16, 20 have been amended. Claims 1-20 are pending in the application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP TS 26.506 V 1.1.0 (hereinafter “3GPP 26.506”, NPL [provided via IDS 4/9/24]) in view of Yip et al (hereinafter “Yip”, 2024/0276347).
As per Claim 1, 3GPP 26.506 discloses a method performed by at least processor in a 5G network for managing an edge server and splitting of one or more media functions of a client of a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
determining whether edge provisioning of the edge server is network driven or client driven (at least section 4.4.1-4.4.2.1: client driven or application function (network) driven management of edge processing session; 6.1: client driven edge computing provisioning phase);
determining whether split-rendering provisioning of the edge server and the UE is network driven or client driven (at least section 4.4.2.2-4.4.2.3: EAS is the application server resident in the EDN, performing edge-based processing for AR functionalities such as split rendering and spatial computing. The Application Client (AC) connects to the EAS in order to avail the services of the application with the benefits of Edge Computing; section 6.1: 5G-RTC Application Provider Provisioning phase is performed prior to the establishment of any related WebRTC sessions by the 5G-RTC Application Provider; Provision 5G-RTC features: In this step, the 5G-RTC Application Provider may create different configurations such as QoS support, charging, collection of consumption, offering STUN/TURN servers, WebRTC signalling servers, Edge Processing);
based on a determination (i) the edge provisioning is network driven or (ii) the edge provisioning and the split-rendering provisioning are both client driven (at least section 6.1; Edge Computing Provisioning phase is a provisioning phase, that may be repeated several times (e.g., to extend edge processing coverage to new geographical areas or to increase the capacity of an already provisioned area). All steps in this phase are optional and performed on need basis. The steps are: 1. Spawn ECS: In this step, a new ECS instance is instantiated to manage new or increased demand for edge processing. 2. Spawn 5G-RTC AF: In this step, a new 5G-RTC AF that is edge-enabled is instantiated to handle new or increased demand for WebRTC sessions with edge processing),
provisioning the edge server (at least section 6.1; Edge Computing Provisioning phase is a provisioning phase, that may be repeated several times (e.g., to extend edge processing coverage to new geographical areas or to increase the capacity of an already provisioned area). All steps in this phase are optional and performed on need basis. The steps are: 1. Spawn ECS: In this step, a new ECS instance is instantiated to manage new or increased demand for edge processing. 2. Spawn 5G-RTC AF: In this step, a new 5G-RTC AF that is edge-enabled is instantiated to handle new or increased demand for WebRTC sessions with edge processing); and
provisioning a split management session to enable split rendering between the UE and the edge server, wherein the splitting of the one or more media functions of the UE are negotiated with the 5G network after the split management session is provisioned (at least section 6.1; 5G-RTC Application Provider Provisioning phase is performed prior to the establishment of any related WebRTC sessions by the 5G-RTC Application Provider. Subsequent updates to the provisioning session are possible. 5. Create Provisioning Session: In this step, the 5G-RTC Application Provider creates a new provisioning session. 6. Provision 5G-RTC features: In this step, the 5G-RTC Application Provider may create different configurations such as QoS support, charging, collection of consumption, offering STUN/TURN servers, WebRTC signalling servers, Edge Processing, etc; section 4.4.2.2-4.4.2.3: Based on the extended architecture, the following interfaces are defined for performing edge-based processing for AR functionalities such as split rendering and spatial computing: 1. A 5G-RTC AF that is edge-enabled shall support EES functionality).
3GPP 26.506 fails to explicitly disclose wherein the split management session is announced as part of service access information; and provisioning, based on the negotiated one or more media functions, a split-rendering session. However, the use and advantages for using such a system was well known to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention as evidenced by the teachings of Yip.
Yip discloses, in an analogous 5GMS art, a 5GMS application provider providing service announcement information to a 5GMS application with a reference to the service access information or pre-configured information (at least paragraph 73-80; see also 104-135). Yip discloses split configuration being negotiated between the UE and server with an AI capability manager discovering capabilities and functions of the UE and server after establishing a session connection in order to negotiate the split session of data delivery alp 151-155). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the use of Yip’s split processing with 3GPP 26.506 as Yip discloses such service announcement being well known in order to allow a UE and service provider to both be aware of such AI media service and split capabilities between endpoints, allowing a session to be provisioned with split rendering when the devices may not be aware of that as an option in order to benefit from such split rendering and inference processing when available.
As per Claim 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: based on a determination the edge provisioning and the split-rendering provisioning are both network driven, the 5G network comprising a first server operating as a real-time media communication (RTC) application function (AF) and a second server operation as a split-rendering server, provisioning both the edge server and the split-rendering server via RTC AF provisioning (at least section 4.2.2: integration/collocation of this 5G-RTC AF and WebRTC signalling server; section 4.4.2.2: EAS split rendering server).
As per Claim 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: based on a determination the edge provisioning and the split-rendering provisioning are both client driven, provisioning the edge server and the split management session via a WebRTC Application provisioning (at least section 4.4.2.1: In the client-driven approach, the WebRTC Application is aware of the support of edge processing in the network and takes steps, such as using the EDGE-5 APIs, to discover and locate a suitable 5G-RTC AS instance in the Edge DN; section 4.2.4; MSH is an entity running on the UE, which assists with the 5G integration of the WebRTC application).
As per Claim 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: based on a determination the edge provisioning is network driven and the split-rendering provisioning is client driven, providing information of the edge server via one of RTC-8 and RTC-5 (at least section 4.3.4, 4.3.7; configuration information of application provider exchanged over RTC-8 and/or RTC-5).
As per Claim 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a request from an Application Provider; setting up the edge server used for the split-rendering between the edge server and the UE, wherein the edge server set up is performed either by the Application Provider or a mobile network operator to run the split-rendering process (at least section 4.2.7; trusted WebRTC signalling function is used to setup and manage MNO-operated WebRTC applications. They offer a standardized signalling protocol for the session setup to both parties of the WebRTC session).
As per Claim 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the split-rendering session is provisioned by the Application Provider using SR-1 and SR-3, wherein the split-rendering session includes an identifier for the edge server previously provisioned (at least section 4.3.1-4.3.2; section 4.4.2.1-4.4.2.2: See Figure 4.4.2-1: RTC-1 and RTC-3 interfaces).
As per Claim 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising: establishing the split-rendering session that comprises: discovering a split-rendering server; establishing a connection to a split-rendering server; sending, to the split-rendering server, one or split-rendering capabilities; and receiving a description of a split-rendering output from the split-rendering server (at least section 6.1: UE discovers an EAS instance offering 5G-RTC AS functionality in the Client-based Edge Computing Discovery phase:
12. Locate EAS instances: The MSH asks the EEC to discover the location of one or more suitable EAS instances offering the “5G-RTC AS” capability that can serve the application.
13. Locate local EES: The EEC queries the ECS for a suitable EES (EDGE-4 API).
14. Register with EES: The EEC registers with the selected EES (EDGE-1 API).
15. Request list of “5G-RTC AS” EAS instances: The EEC queries the EES or one or more EAS instances offering the “5G-RTC AS” capability that can serve the session, using EAS discovery filters (see Table 8.5.3.2-2 in Error! Reference source not found.) provided by the Application Client, e.g. “5G-RTC AS” for EAS type, appropriate values for service feature(s), and other EAS characteristics).
As per Claim 8. The method of claim 1, wherein based on a determination the edge provisioning is network-driven and the provisioning of the split management session is client-driven, information associated with the edge server is provided through a SR5 or SR-8 interface (at least section 4.3.4, 4.3.7; configuration information of application provider exchanged over RTC-8 and/or RTC-5).
As per Claim 9. The method of claim 1, wherein based on a determination the edge provisioning and the split-rendering provisioning are both client-driven, an application service provider communicates with an application of the UE to provision the edge server and provision the split-management session (at least section 4.4.1: a 5G-RTC Application Provider to provision resources in the Edge Data Network (EDN) for an application through the RTC-1 interface.
Media processing in the edge may be achieved in one of two different ways at the application layer: 1. Client-driven management. 5G-RTC Applications that are aware of the edge processing can directly request an edge resource and discover the Edge Application Server (EAS) that is best suited to serve the application).
As per Claim 10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the 5G network comprises a first server operating as a trusted 5G real-time media communication (RTC) application function (AF) and a second server operating as a trusted 5G RTC application server (AS) (at least Fig. A.4-1; Trusted 5G-RTC AF - via RTC-3 - Trusted 5G-RTC AS).
Claims 11-20 do not, in substance, add or define any additional limitations over claims 1-20 and therefore are rejected for similar reasons, supra.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is indicated in PTO form 892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GREGORY TODD whose telephone number is (303)297-4763. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30-5 MST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor Nicholas Taylor can be reached on 571-272-3889. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GREGORY TODD/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2443
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