DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to the pending claims, 1-30, received 22 February 2024. Accordingly, the detailed action of claims 1-30 is as follows:
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 22 February 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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, 7, 10-11, 19, 20-23, 25, 29-30 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fernandes et al (US 20120269075 A1, hereafter referred to as Fernandes) in view of Li et al (US 20240365178 A1, hereafter referred to as Li).
Regarding claim 1, Fernandes teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) (Fernandes [0045] teaches client devices accessing media stream), comprising:
a memory (Fernandes [0045] teaches a client device); and
one or more processors (Fernandes [0045] teaches a client device), coupled to the memory, configured to:
receive a configuration associated with a service (Fernandes [0045] teaches providing program guides to client devices), the configuration indicating a first set of one or more parameters for accessing the service in a multicast mode, and a second set of one or more parameters for accessing the service in a broadcast mode within a broadcast service area (Fernandes [0045] teaches accessing program guide information and obtaining information about media content. Furthermore, Fernandes discloses the transition system mapping broadcast parameters to corresponding multicast parameters (call sign to channel) [0035]);
receive information associated with the service using one of the multicast mode or the broadcast mode based at least in part on the first set of one or more parameters or the second set of one or more parameters (Fernandes [0032 and 0034] teaches media from a broadcast stream degrading to a particular threshold and checking a media quality of a broadcast signal triggering a switch from the currently received multicast signal); and switch to receiving information associated with the service using the other of the multicast mode or the broadcast mode based at least in part on the first set of one or more parameters or the second set of one or more parameters (Fernandes [0032 and 0034] teaches switching from broadcast to multicast and switching from multicast to broadcast based on a transition threshold).
However, Fernandes does not explicitly teach accessing the service in a multicast mode using non-access stratum (NAS) based signaling.
Li, in an analogous art, teaches accessing the service in a multicast mode using non-access stratum (NAS) based signaling (Li [0138] teaches the UE sends a request message to join a multicast group, wherein the NAS message includes the service delivery mode switching request).
It would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Fernandes in view of Li in order to configure the access of a service in multicast mode, as taught by Fernandes, be done using NAS based signaling, as taught by Li.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated in order to more efficiently utilize network resources (Li [0134, 0135]).
Regarding claim 2, Fernandes-Li teach the limitations of claim 1, as set forth above.
Additionally, Fernandes-Li teaches the apparatus wherein the one or more processors are further configured to join a multicast session associated with the multicast mode using the NAS-based signaling (Li [0138] teaches the UE sends a request message to join a multicast group, wherein the NAS message includes the service delivery mode switching request).
Regarding claim 3, Fernandes-Li teach the limitations of claim 1, as set forth above.
Additionally, Fernandes-Li teaches the apparatus wherein the UE is authorized or authenticated prior to receiving the information associated with the service using the multicast mode (Li [0185-0186] teaches initiating authorization for a UE prior to enabling multicast data transfer to the newly joined UE).
Regarding claim 7, Fernandes-Li teach the limitations of claim 1, as set forth above.
Additionally, Fernandes-Li teaches the apparatus wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine, based at least in part on the UE being in the broadcast service area, to receive the information associated with the service using the broadcast mode (Fernandes [0034] teaches a monitoring the broadcast signal and the device switching to broadcast regardless of the multicast stream quality).
Regarding claim 10, Fernandes-Li teach the limitations of claim 1, as set forth above.
Additionally, Fernandes-Li teaches the apparatus wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine a quality of a communication using the multicast mode or the broadcast mode (Fernandes [0034] teaches determining the broadcast or multicast media quality), wherein switching to the other of the multicast mode or the broadcast mode is based at least in part on the quality of the communication using the multicast mode or the broadcast mode (Fernandes [0034] teaches switching to multicast or broadcast based on the determined transmission quality).
Regarding claim 11, Fernandes-Li teach the limitations of claim 10, as set forth above.
Additionally, Fernandes-Li teaches the apparatus wherein the quality of the communication using the multicast mode or the broadcast mode is determined based at least in part on a packet error rate, a block error rate, a reference signal received power, or a reference signal received quality of the communication (Fernandes [0033] teaches monitoring signal to noise and dB levels to determine transitioning to an alternate stream).
Regarding claim 19, Fernandes-Li teach the limitations of claim 1, as set forth above.
Additionally, Fernandes-Li teaches the apparatus wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive an indication of whether the UE should receive the information associated with the service using the multicast mode or the broadcast mode (Li [0202] teaches notifying the UE of a switch decision or switch initiation procedure).
Regarding claim 20, Fernandes teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a network node, comprising:
a memory (Fernandes [0048] discloses a media content delivery system); and one or more processors (Fernandes [0048] discloses a media content delivery system), coupled to the memory, configured to:
transmit a configuration associated with a service (Fernandes [0045] teaches providing program guides to client devices), the configuration indicating a first set of one or more parameters for accessing the service in a multicast mode, and a second set of one or more parameters for accessing the service in a broadcast mode within a broadcast service area (Fernandes [0045] teaches accessing program guide information and obtaining information about media content. Furthermore, Fernandes discloses the transition system mapping broadcast parameters to corresponding multicast parameters (call sign to channel) [0035]);
transmit information associated with the service using the multicast mode (Fernandes [0032 and 0034] teaches switching from broadcast to multicast and switching from multicast to broadcast based on a transition threshold); and transmit information associated with the service using the broadcast mode (Fernandes [0032 and 0034] teaches switching from broadcast to multicast and switching from multicast to broadcast based on a transition threshold).
However, Fernandes does not explicitly teach accessing the service in a multicast mode using non-access stratum (NAS) based signaling.
Li, in an analogous art, teaches accessing the service in a multicast mode using non-access stratum (NAS) based signaling (Li [0138] teaches the UE sends a request message to join a multicast group, wherein the NAS message includes the service delivery mode switching request).
It would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Fernandes in view of Li in order to configure the access of a service in multicast mode, as taught by Fernandes, be done using NAS based signaling, as taught by Li.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated in order to more efficiently utilize network resources (Li [0134, 0135]).
Regarding claim 21, Fernandes-Li teach the limitations of claim 20.
Additionally, Fernandes-Li teaches the apparatus wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the information associated with the service using the multicast mode, are configured to transmit the information using a point-to-point transmission mode or a point-to-multipoint transmission mode of a multicast radio bearer (Li [0137] teaches a switch to a MBMS service which is a point-to-multipoint service using a multicast bearer [0090]).
Regarding claim 22, Fernandes-Li teach the limitations of claim 20.
Additionally, Fernandes-Li teaches the apparatus wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the information associated with the service using the broadcast mode, are configured to transmit the information using a multicast radio bearer or a multimedia broadcast multicast service control channel (Li [0137] teaches a switch to a MBMS service which is a point-to-multipoint service using a multicast bearer in two modes including broadcast [0090]).
Regarding claim 23, Fernandes-Li teach the limitations of claim 20.
Additionally, Fernandes-Li teaches the apparatus wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the information associated with the service using the multicast mode, are configured to transmit the information using a dedicated radio resource control message or a multicast radio bearer associated with a point-to-point transmission or a point-to-multipoint transmission (Li [0137] teaches a switch to a MBMS service which is a point-to-multipoint service using a multicast bearer [0090]).
Regarding claim 25, Fernandes-Li teach the limitations of claim 20.
Additionally, Fernandes-Li teaches the apparatus wherein the multicast mode supports at least one of a handover or a Layer 2 retransmission of the service using a point-to-point transmission (Li [0135, 0123] teaches handover to provide multicast data service to the UE using MBMS [0090]).
Regarding claims 29 and 30, they do not teach or further limit over the limitations presented above with respect to claims 1 and 20.
Therefore, claims 29 and 30 are rejected for the same reasons set forth above regarding claims 1 and 20.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4-6, 8-9, 12-18, 24, 26-28 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Jia (WO 2021164564 A1);
Hong (WO 2021162315 A1);
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SHEAN TOKUTA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2446
/SHEAN TOKUTA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2446
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