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 .
Response to Amendment
The preliminary amendment filed on 02/05/2024 is received prior to the examination of the instant application and has not introduced any new matter, thus, has been entered and is examined on the merits.
Claim Objections
Claim 7 is objected to because of the following informalities: the claim recites the abbreviation “MCCH". For clarity, it is suggested to fully describe the acronyms when reciting for the first time in the claim.
Claims 15-21 are objected to because of the following informalities: the claim 15 recites “A UE comprising processing hardware and configured to: operate…” (see lines 1-2 of claim 15) (emphasis added).
Analysis:
Claim 15 recite a machine claim, “A UE”, respectively, however, the bodies of the claims recite the action steps: “operate…, receive…, initiate…” performed by the machine. Thus, the bodies of the claims have failed to recite the structure(s) required by the machine claim. Therefore, claim 15 is objected for informality.
For clarity and placing the claim into a proper machine claim, it is suggested to replace “A UE comprising processing hardware and configured to: operate…” with “A UE comprising: processing hardware configured to: operate…” so that the aforementioned list of devices, comprised by the UE, which are performing these actions/steps (see MPEP 2106.03, section I1 ; MPEP 2173.05(p), section II2).
The claims 16-21 are also objected since they are depended upon objected independent claim 15 as set forth above.
Appropriate correction are required.
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.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
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.
Claims 1-3, 6, 9, 13-17 and 19-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2023/0239661 A1 to Pham Van et al. (hereafter refers as Pham Van) in view of US 2004/0152473 A1 to Kuwano et al. (hereafter refers as Kuwano) and US 2022/0303729 A1 to Xu et al. (hereafter refers as Xu).
Regarding claims 1 and 15, Pham Van teaches a method in a user equipment (UE) for activating reception of multicast and/or broadcast services (MBS) (a method in a UE for activating reception of MBS, paragraphs [122-126] and Fig. 3-5) and a UE comprising processing hardware (UE comprises at least a processor configured to cause the UE to perform the method, paragraphs [137, 152, 167, 176-177, 188, 212]) and configured to:
operate in an inactive state of a protocol for controlling radio resources (the UE is operated in an inactive state of RRC protocol for controlling radio resources, paragraphs [6, 9, 91, 94, 111, 123]);
receive, in the inactive state from a radio access network (RAN), a paging message (the UE receives, while in the inactive state, from a RAN, paragraphs [141-143], a paging message, paragraphs [91, 94, 111, 123, 127, 136]) including an MBS session identifier (ID) (including an MBS session ID, paragraphs [15, 104-106, 123]); and
initiate reception of MBS data corresponding to the MBS session ID in response to the paging message (the UE starts to receive the MBS data corresponding to the MBS session in response to the paging message, paragraphs [111, 123-125]), including: perform one or more procedures to transition the UE to a connected state of the protocol, to receive MBS data in the connected state of the protocol, when a first value (the UE is transitioned to an RRC connected state, from the inactive state, to receive MBS data in the RRC connected state, when an indication specifying the UE to enter to RRC connected state to receive the MBS data, paragraphs [104, 111, 123-124, 128]), and
initiate reception of MBS data corresponding to the MBS session ID in response to a paging message including receive the MBS data in the inactive state of the protocol when a second value (the UE receives the MBS data while in the inactive state, when an indication specifying the UE to receive the MBS data while in the inactive state, paragraphs [9, 27, 38, 84-85, 107, 127, 136]).
However, Pham Van does not explicitly teach the paging message for receiving the MBS data in the inactive state of the protocol is “received in the inactive state”.
Kuwano teaches a method in a user equipment (UE) (a method in a UE for receiving MBMS, Fig. 3-4), the method comprising:
operating in an inactive state of a protocol for controlling radio resources (the UE is operated in an inactive state of RRC protocol for controlling radio resources, paragraphs [58, 62]);
receiving, in the inactive state, a paging message (the UE receives, while in the inactive state, a paging message, paragraphs [40, 45-46, 54, 58, 62]); and
initiate reception of MBS data corresponding to the MBS session ID in response to the paging message (in response to the paging message received in the inactive state, paragraph [62]) including receive the MBS data in the inactive state of the protocol (the UE receives the MBS data while in the inactive state, when the paging message is for the UE to receive MBMS data in the inactive state of the RRC, without establishing RB, i.e. transition to Cell_DCH state or CELL_FACH state, paragraphs [54-55, 58, 62-64]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of receiving, in the inactive state, the paging message and initiating reception of MBS data corresponding to the MBS session ID in response to the paging message including receiving the MBS data in the inactive state of the protocol as taught by Kuwano, with the teachings of initiating reception of MBS data corresponding to the MBS session ID in response to the paging message including receiving the MBS data in the inactive state of the protocol as taught by Pham Van, for a purpose of enabling the UE to receive the paging message, in the inactive state, for reception of MBS data in the in the inactive state, thus increasing a delivering time for the MBS data by enabling the UE to remain in the inactive state for receiving the MBS data (see Kuwano, paragraphs [58, 62]).
However, the combination of Pham Van and Kuwano does not explicitly teach the first value is the “MBS session ID” first value and the second value is the “MBS session ID” second value.
Xu teaches a method in a user equipment (UE) for activating reception of multicast and/or broadcast services (MBS) (a method in a UE for activating reception of MBS, Fig. 10-11) and a UE comprising processing hardware (UE comprises at least a processor configured to cause the UE to perform the method, paragraphs [58-61, 63]) and configured to:
operate in an inactive state of a protocol for controlling radio resources (the UE is operated in an inactive state of RRC protocol for controlling radio resources, paragraphs [103-106] and Fig. 10-15);
receive, in the inactive state from a radio access network (RAN), a message (the UE receives, while in the inactive state, from a RAN, paragraphs [141-143], a message, paragraphs [103-106] and Fig. 10, step 1014) including an MBS session identifier (ID) (including an TMGI, paragraphs [103-106]); and
initiate reception of MBS data corresponding to the MBS session ID in response to the message (the UE starts to receive the MBS data corresponding to the TMGI, in response to the paging message, paragraphs [103-106] and Fig. 10, step 1018), including:
perform one or more procedures to transition the UE to a connected state of the protocol, to receive MBS data in the connected state of the protocol, when the MBS session ID has a first value (the UE is transitioned to an RRC connected state, from the inactive state, to receive MBS data in the RRC connected state, when the TMGI has an TMGI VALUE 1, paragraphs [103-106]), and
receive the MBS data in the inactive state of the protocol when the MBS session ID has a second value (the UE receives the MBS data, while in the inactive state, when the TMGI has an TMGI VALUE 2, paragraphs [103-106] and Fig. 10, step 1012).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of performing one or more procedures to transition the UE to a connected state of the protocol, to receive MBS data in the connected state of the protocol, when the MBS session ID has the first value and receiving the MBS data in the inactive state of the protocol when the MBS session ID has the second value as taught by Xu, with the teachings of performing one or more procedures to transition the UE to a connected state of the protocol, to receive MBS data in the connected state of the protocol, when a first value and receiving the MBS data in the inactive state of the protocol when a second value as taught by combination of Pham Van and Kuwano, for a purpose of increase efficiency by using the MBS session ID value to indicate whether the UE needed to perform the procedure to transition the UE to the connected state, thus further reducing the number of information/data being transmitted (see Xu, paragraphs [98-106]).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Pham Van, Kuwano and Xu further teaches in response to determining that the first value of the MBS session ID corresponds to a multicast session (when the TMGI value 1, i.e. TMGI #1, is associated with multicast session, i.e. multimedia broadcast multicast service/mbms/mbs session, Xu, paragraphs [99, 102-106], see Pham Van, paragraphs [104, 111, 123-124, 128]), performing one or more procedures to transition the UE to a connected state of the protocol for controlling radio resources, to receive the MBS data (the UE is transitioned to an RRC connected state, from the inactive state, to receive MBS data in the RRC connected state, when an indication/TMGI value 1 specifying the UE to enter to RRC connected state to receive the MBS data, see Pham Van, paragraphs [104, 111, 123-124, 128], see Xu, paragraphs [103-106]).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Pham Van, Kuwano and Xu further teaches in response to determining that the second value of the MBS session ID corresponds to a broadcast session (wherein the TMGI value 2, i.e. TMGI #2, is associated with a broadcast session, i.e. multimedia broadcast multicast service/mbms/mbs session, Xu, paragraphs [99, 102-106], see Pham Van, paragraphs [104, 111, 123-124, 128]), receiving the MBS data without transitioning to a connected state of the protocol for controlling radio resources (the UE receives the MBS data, while in the inactive state, see Pham Van, paragraphs [9, 27, 38, 84-85, 107, 127, 136], see Xu, paragraphs [103-106]).
Regarding claims 6 and 17, Xu further teaches wherein the MBS session ID includes a Temporary Mobile Group Identity (TMGI) (wherein the MBS session ID is a TMGI, paragraphs [96, 98]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of wherein the MBS session ID includes a Temporary Mobile Group Identity (TMGI) as taught by Xu, with the teachings of the MBS session ID as taught by combination of Pham Van and Kuwano, for a purpose of increase compatibility of the teachings by using the TMGI as a MBS session ID (see Xu, paragraphs [96-98]).
Regarding claims 9 and 19, the combination of Pham Van, Kuwano and Xu further teaches wherein:
the paging a message is a first paging message when the MBS session ID corresponds to a multicast session (the paging message including the TMGI value 1, i.e. TMGI #1, is associated with multicast session, i.e. multimedia broadcast multicast service/mbms/mbs session, Xu, paragraphs [99, 102-106], see Pham Van, paragraphs [104, 111, 123-124, 128]); and
the paging message is a second paging message when the MBS session ID corresponds to a broadcast session (the paging message including the TMGI value 2, i.e. TMGI #2, is associated with a broadcast session, i.e. multimedia broadcast multicast service/mbms/mbs session, Xu, paragraphs [99, 102-106], see Pham Van, paragraphs [104, 111, 123-124, 128]),
Regarding claims 13 and 20, Xu further teaches wherein performing of the one or more procedures includes performing an RRC resume procedure (the UE perform RRC resume procedure to enter RRC connected state, paragraphs [103, 105, 106]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of wherein performing of the one or more procedures includes performing an RRC resume procedure as taught by Xu, with the teachings of performing of the one or more procedures as taught by combination of Pham Van and Kuwano, for a purpose of increase compatibility of the teachings by using the RRC resume procedure to transition to the RRC connected state (see Xu, paragraphs [103, 105, 106]).
Regarding claims 14 and 21, Pham Van further teaches wherein performing of the one or more procedures includes performing a random access procedure (performing the random access procedure to transition to the RRC connected state, see Pham Van, paragraphs [15, 27, 85, 110, 123, 128]).
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Pham Van, Kuwano and Xu further teaches wherein:
the first value of the MBS session ID corresponds to a multicast session (when the TMGI value 1, i.e. TMGI #1, is associated with multicast session, i.e. multimedia broadcast multicast service/mbms/mbs session, Xu, paragraphs [99, 102-106], see Pham Van, paragraphs [104, 111, 123-124, 128]), and
the second value of the MBS session ID corresponds to a broadcast session (wherein the TMGI value 2, i.e. TMGI #2, is associated with a broadcast session, i.e. multimedia broadcast multicast service/mbms/mbs session, Xu, paragraphs [99, 102-106], see Pham Van, paragraphs [104, 111, 123-124, 128]).
Claims 7 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2023/0239661 A1 to Pham Van et al. (hereafter refers as Pham Van) in view of US 2004/0152473 A1 to Kuwano et al. (hereafter refers as Kuwano) and US 2022/0303729 A1 to Xu et al. (hereafter refers as Xu) as applied to claims above and further in view of US 2024/0129006 A1 to Chao et al. (hereafter refers as Chao).
Regarding claims 7 and 18, the combination of Pham Van, Kuwano and Xu does not explicitly teach “receiving, from the RAN, resource configuration for the MBS data via an MCCH”.
Chao teaches receiving, from a RAN, resource configuration for the MBS data via an MCCH (a UE receives, from a gNB, MBS control information including a radio resource configuration for the MBS data, via an MCCH, paragraph [45] and Fig. 3, 6-7]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of receiving, from the RAN, resource configuration for the MBS data via the MCCH as taught by Chao, with the teachings of combination of Pham Van, Kuwano and Xu, for a purpose of increase compatibility of the teachings by employing the MCCH to communicate the resource configuration for the MBS data, thus be compatible with the MCCH standards (see Chao, paragraph [45] and Fig. 3, 6-7]).
Claims 22-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2023/0239661 A1 to Pham Van et al. (hereafter refers as Pham Van) in view of US 2004/0152473 A1 to Kuwano et al. (hereafter refers as Kuwano).
Regarding claim 22, Pham Van teaches a method in a user equipment (UE) (a method in a UE for activating reception of MBS, paragraphs [122-126] and Fig. 3-5), the method comprising:
operating in an inactive state of a protocol for controlling radio resources (the UE is operated in an inactive state of RRC protocol for controlling radio resources, paragraphs [6, 9, 91, 94, 111, 123]);
receiving, in the inactive state from a radio access network (RAN), a paging message (the UE receives, while in the inactive state, from a RAN, paragraphs [141-143], a paging message, i.e. entering RRC connected from the inactive state, after receiving the paging, paragraphs [27, 111, 127, 136]);
when the paging message is of a first type or is associated with a first type of a service (when the paging message is associated with an indication of enabling the UE to receive the MBS data in the connected state, paragraphs [111, 127, 130, 136]), performing one or more procedures to transition the UE to a connected state of the protocol and to receive data in the connected state of the protocol (the performing one or more procedures to transition to the connected state of RRC and to receive data in the connected state of the RRC, paragraphs [104, 109-111, 123]), and
a paging message is of a second type or is associated with a second type of a service (the UE receive a paging message within an indication of enabling the UE to receive the MBS data in the inactive state, paragraphs [12, 15, 104, 107]), receiving the data in the inactive state of the protocol (the UE receives the MBS data in the inactive state of the RRC, paragraphs [12, 15, 104, 107]).
However, Pham Van does not explicitly teach that the paging message is of the second type or is associated with the second type of a service, is “received in the inactivate state”.
Kuwano teaches a method in a user equipment (UE) (a method in a UE for receiving MBMS, Fig. 3-4), the method comprising:
operating in an inactive state of a protocol for controlling radio resources (the UE is operated in an inactive state of RRC protocol for controlling radio resources, paragraphs [58, 62]);
receiving, in the inactive state, a paging message (the UE receives, while in the inactive state, a paging message, paragraphs [40, 45-46, 54, 58, 62]);
when the paging message is of a second type or is associated with a second type of a service, receiving the data in the inactive state of the protocol (when the paging message is for the UE to receive MBMS data in the inactive state of the RRC, the UE receives the MBMS data in the inactive state of the RRC, without establishing RB, i.e. transition to Cell_DCH state or CELL_FACH state, paragraphs [54-55, 58, 62-64]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of receiving, in the inactive state, the paging message; when the paging message is of a second type or is associated with a second type of a service, receiving the data in the inactive state of the protocol as taught by Kuwano, with the teachings of the paging message is of the second type or is associated with the second type of a service, receiving the data in the inactive state of the protocol as taught by Pham Van, for a purpose of enabling the UE to receive the paging message of the second type or associated with the second type of a service, in the inactive state, thus increasing a delivering time for the MBS data by enabling the UE to remain in the inactive state for receiving the MBS data (see Kuwano, paragraphs [58, 62]).
Regarding claim 23, the combination of Pham Van and Kuwano further teaches:
the first type of the paging message is a radio access network (RAN) paging message (the paging message associated with the indication of enabling the UE to receive the MBS data in the connected state, is received from the RAN/eNB, see Pham Van, paragraphs [74, 141]);
the second type of the paging message is a core network (CN) paging message (the paging message associated with the indication for receiving the MBS data in the IDLE state or inactive state, see Kuwano, Fig. 3-4 and Pham Van, paragraphs [141-142]).
Regarding claim 24, the combination of Pham Van and Kuwano further teaches: the second type of the paging message is for an MBS service (wherein the paging message associated with the indication for receiving the MBS data in the IDLE state or inactive state, is for receiving the MBS data, see Kuwano, paragraphs [54-55, 58, 62-64] and Pham Van, paragraphs [12, 15, 104, 107]).
Claims 25-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2023/0239661 A1 to Pham Van et al. (hereafter refers as Pham Van) in view of US 2004/0152473 A1 to Kuwano et al. (hereafter refers as Kuwano) as applied to claims above, and further in view of US 2019/0380078 A1 to Fujishiro et al. (hereafter refers as Fujishiro).
Regarding claim 25, the combination of Pham Van and Kuwano further teaches the second type of service of the paging message is an MBS service (wherein the paging message associated with the indication of enabling the UE to receive the MBS data in the connected state, is an MBS service, see Pham Van, paragraphs [111, 127, 130, 136], see Kuwano, paragraphs [54-55, 58, 62-64]).
However, the combination of Pham Van and Kuwano does not explicitly teach the first type of service of the paging message is a “unicast service”.
Fujishiro teaches wherein the first type of service of the paging message (paging message for transition to a connected state, paragraphs [55, 132-134]) is a unicast service (is a unicast service/communication, paragraph [133]);
the second type of service of the paging message (paging message, paragraphs [55, 134]) is an MBS service (the UE receives the MBS service in an RRC idle state, paragraphs [94, 116, 136]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of r wherein the first type of service of the paging message is a unicast service and the second type of service of the paging message is an MBS service as taught by Fujishiro, with the teachings of combination of Pham Van and Kuwano, for a purpose of increase efficiency by allowing the UE to receive the unicast service while in the connected state (see Fujishiro, paragraph [133]).
Regarding claim 26, the combination of Pham Van and Kuwano further teaches the data received in the inactive state of the protocol is MBS data (the UE to receive the MBS data in the connected state, see Pham Van, paragraphs [111, 127, 130, 136], see Kuwano, paragraphs [54-55, 58, 62-64]).
However, the combination of Pham Van and Kuwano does not explicitly teach the data received in the connected state of the protocol is “unicast data”.
Fujishiro teaches the data received in the connected state of the protocol is unicast data (receiving a unicast service/communication in a connected state, paragraph [133]), and the data received in the inactive state of the protocol is MBS data (the UE receives the MBS service in an RRC idle state, paragraphs [94, 116, 136]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of the data received in the connected state of the protocol is unicast data and the data received in the inactive state of the protocol is MBS data as taught by Fujishiro, with the teachings of combination of Pham Van and Kuwano, for a purpose of increase efficiency by allowing the UE to receive the unicast data while in the connected state (see Fujishiro, paragraph [133]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2015/0009958 A1 discloses a UE receives MBMS data in a connected state by PTP (unicast) and receives MBMS data in an idle state by PTM (paragraphs [131, 135, 140, 151]).
US 2024/0179797 A1 discloses a UE receives a paging message while in RRC inactive state (Fig. 12-13).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DUNG B. HUYNH whose telephone number is (571)270-7642. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
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/DUNG B HUYNH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469 January 24, 2026
1 A machine is a "concrete thing, consisting of parts, or of certain devices and combination of devices." Digitech, 758 F.3d at 1348-49, 111 USPQ2d at 1719 (quoting Burr v. Duryee, 68 U.S. 531, 570, 17 L. Ed. 650, 657 (1863)). This category "includes every mechanical device or combination of mechanical powers and devices to perform some function and produce a certain effect or result." Nuijten, 500 F.3d at 1355, 84 USPQ2d at 1501 (quoting Corning v. Burden, 56 U.S. 252, 267, 14 L. Ed. 683, 690 (1854)).
2 IPXL Holdings v. Amazon.com, Inc., 430 F.3d 1377, 1384, 77 USPQ2d 1140, 1145 (Fed. Cir. 2005)