CTNF 18/702,568 CTNF 83643 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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 Applicant’s preliminary amendment, filed 18 April 2024, has been entered and carefully considered. Claims 7-10 are amended. Claims 12-27 are newly added. Claims 1-6 and 11 are canceled. Claims 7-10 and 12-27 are currently pending. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 18 April 2024, 23 April 2025, 28 May 2025 and 20 February 2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner. Drawings The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character(s) not mentioned in the description. A review of the specification indicates that several reference numbers from Figures 6A-16 (sheets 9 through 30 of the submitted drawings) are not mentioned in the description. As an example, none of elements 1402-1408 in Figure 14A are found in Applicant’s specification. Applicant is respectfully requested to thoroughly review each of the figures and the specification to ensure compliance. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance. Claim Objections 07-29-01 AIA Claim s 15 and 18 are objected to because of the following informalities: for both claims, claim language “wherein the receiving” should be revised to “wherein receiving” . Appropriate correction is required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-12-aia AIA (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. 07-15-03-aia AIA Claim s 7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Qi et al (United States Pre-Grant Publication 2023/0254666), hereinafter Qi . Regarding Claim 7 , Qi discloses a method for managing transmission of multicast and/or broadcast services (MBS), implemented in a distributed unit (DU) of a distributed base station that includes the DU and a central unit (CU) (Figure 1 – gNB 120 comprises CU 122 and DUs 124 and 126), the method comprising: receiving, by the DU from a CU, a CU-to-DU message requesting configuration parameters for a user equipment (UE) to utilize to receive downlink (DL) MBS data associated with an MBS session (paragraph 0156 – the CU may provide a UE ID list in a signaling message to the DU; paragraphs 0117-0153 also list a number of parameters that may be provided to determine delivery modes to the UE, where paragraph 0156 indicates that the DU makes the decision on delivery modes); determining, by the DU, based on whether the UE supports multicast configuration, whether to include, in a DU configuration message for the UE to utilize to receive the DL MBS data from the DU, point-to-point (PTP) configuration parameters or point-to-multipoint (PTM) configuration parameters (paragraph 0156 - The DU may then use information like UE connection status together with other information at DU, such as resource utilization or UE capability/MBS session requirement on UE capability, to determine a delivery mode for each of the UEs); generating, by the DU, in accordance with the determining, the DU configuration message (paragraph 0156 – the DU determines delivery mode and resource information and returns configuration information); and transmitting, by the DU to the CU, the DU configuration message (paragraph 0156 – the configuration message is returned to the CU by the DU). Regarding Claim 8 , Qi discloses in response to determining that the UE supports multicast configuration, including the PTM configuration parameters in the DU configuration message (paragraph 0156 – the DU returns parameters for PTM delivery mode). Regarding Claim 9 , Qi discloses in response to determining that the UE does not support multicast configuration, including the PTP configuration parameters in the DU configuration message (paragraph 0156 – the DU returns parameters for PTP delivery mode). Regarding Claim 10 , Qi discloses receiving, by the DU from the CU, a message including the DU configuration message from the CU (Figure 5 at step 3 – the MBS radio resource configuration is transmitted to the UE; as shown in Figure 3, PDUs originating from the CU bound for the UE must pass through the DU); and transmitting, by the DU to the UE, the message (Figure 5 at step 3 – the MBS radio resource configuration is transmitted to the UE) . 07-15-03-aia AIA Claim s 12, 16-18, 20 and 24-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Xu et al (United States Pre-Grant Publication 2022/0322288), hereinafter Xu . Regarding Claim 20 , Xu discloses an apparatus, operating as a user equipment (UE) (Figure 3 – UE 106), configured to manage transmission of multicast and/or broadcast services (MBS), the apparatus comprising: a transceiver (Figure 5 – RF 540 of the UE comprises Tx and Rx circuitry (542 and 544); and processing hardware (Figure 3 – processor 302) configured to: transmit, to a radio access network (RAN) node, an uplink message including information indicating UE support for at least one of point-to-point (PTP) communication or point-to-multipoint (PTM) communication for MBS (Figure 13 at 1308 – the UE transmits a UE capability message indicating support for MBMS (PTM) and/or unicast (PTP) reception of MBMS packets (see paragraph 0201)); receive, from the RAN node, at least one of PTP configuration parameters or PTM configuration parameters based on the information included in the uplink message (paragraphs 0199-0201 – the RAN node provides configurations for either MBMS or unicast based on the indicated support); and receive MBS data for an MBS session in accordance with the at least one of the PTP configuration parameters or the PTM configuration parameters (paragraph 0201 – the configuration is used to receive MBMS and/or unicast transmissions). Claim 12 is a method claim comprising the same steps performed by the apparatus of Claim 20. Therefore, Claim 12 is rejected for the same reasons as presented above for Claim 20. Regarding Claims 16 and 24 , Xu discloses the information indicating the UE support for the at least one of the PTP communication or the PTM communication indicates the UE support for the PTM communication and the UE support for the PTP communication (Paragraph 0198 – UE indicates support for MBMS and unicast reception). Regarding Claims 17 and 25 , Xu discloses receiving the PTP configuration parameters (paragraphs 0198-0199); and receiving the PTM configuration parameters (paragraphs 0198-0199 – the UE is configured with parameters according to both MBMS and unicast communication). Regarding Claims 18 and 26 , Xu discloses the receiving the MBS data for the MBS session is in accordance with the PTP configuration parameters and the PTM configuration parameters (paragraph 0201 – the configuration is used to receive MBMS and unicast transmissions) . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-23-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 13-15 and 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu in view of Qi . Regarding Claims 13 and 21 , Xu discloses limitations of Claims 12 and 20, as described above. However, Xu does not disclose the information indicating the UE support for the at least one of the PTP communication or the PTM communication indicates the UE support for the PTM communication and refrains from indicating the UE support for the PTP communication. In an analogous art, Qi discloses this. Specifically, Qi discloses determining delivery modes for UEs according to their capabilities (i.e., support of PTM but not support of PTP). The allocated resources and corresponding configuration are based on the indicated capability (see paragraph 0156). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Xu and Qi. One would have been motivated to do so in order to effect delivery mode switching when needed without involving the application layer (see paragraph 0003 of Qi). Regarding Claims 14 and 22 , the combination of Xu and Qi further discloses receiving the PTM configuration parameters; and refraining from receiving the PTP configuration parameters (refer to paragraph 0156 of Qi – PTM configuration received by the UE if PTM delivery supported and not PTP). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further combine Xu and Qi. One would have been motivated to do so in order to effect delivery mode switching when needed without involving the application layer (see paragraph 0003 of Qi). Regarding Claims 15 and 23 , the combination of Xu and Qi further discloses receiving the MBS data for the MBS session is in accordance with the PTM configuration parameters (refer to paragraph 0156 and Figure 5 of Qi – the UE receives MBS after receiving the resource configuration). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further combine Xu and Qi. One would have been motivated to do so in order to effect delivery mode switching when needed without involving the application layer (see paragraph 0003 of Qi) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 19 and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu in view of Ronneke et al (United States Pre-Grant Publication 2023/0309189), hereinafter Ronneke. Xu discloses the limitations of Claims 12 and 20, as described above. However, Xu does not disclose performing, by the UE with a core network (CN) via the RAN node, an MBS session join procedure for the MBS session after transmitting the uplink message. In an analogous art, Ronneke discloses this. Specifically, Ronneke discloses performing an MBS session join procedure as part of a determination as to whether certain delivery modes are supported for the MBS (refer to Figure 12 and paragraph 0199-0200). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Xu and Ronneke. One would have been motivated to do so in order to minimize traffic loss (paragraph 0093 of Ronneke) . Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW W. CHRISS whose telephone number is (571)272-1774. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8am-4pm ET. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kevin Bates can be reached at (571) 272-3980. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /ANDREW W CHRISS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472 Application/Control Number: 18/702,568 Page 2 Art Unit: 2472 Application/Control Number: 18/702,568 Page 3 Art Unit: 2472 Application/Control Number: 18/702,568 Page 4 Art Unit: 2472 Application/Control Number: 18/702,568 Page 5 Art Unit: 2472 Application/Control Number: 18/702,568 Page 7 Art Unit: 2472 Application/Control Number: 18/702,568 Page 8 Art Unit: 2472 Application/Control Number: 18/702,568 Page 9 Art Unit: 2472
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