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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim(s) 1-5, 8, 17, and 19, rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
With regard to the independent claims 1, 8, 17, and 19, they each have been amended to recite, in part:
“transmit, in a case where the message is received, using the shared tunnel, a user plane protocol data for the MBS session”.
The above limitation is indefinite.
As is known, the claims must define the boundaries of an invention with “reasonable certainty”. The phrase, “in a case” introduces some ambiguity as to whether the steps preceding and after the recitation of “in a case” are being performed.
Additionally, it is unclear if the applicant is stating that in a case where the message is received, or “in a case the message is received using the shared tunnel”. That is, it is unclear if the case concern reception of the message over the shared tunnel or if the case refers to if the message is received at all. Thus, the claims are rendered indefinite.
Dependent claims 2-5 which depend from claim 1, are similarly rejected for their dependency on claim 1, and for failing to cure the deficiencies therein.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 5 has been amended to recite, in part:
“wherein the first information further includes a transport layer address and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol (GTP) Tunnel Endpoint Identifier (GTP-TEID)”.
It is noted that claim 5 depends on claim 1, wherein claim 1 is directed to a DU-CU message, e.g. a response message based on the UE context setup response/UE context modification response, at par.[0084] of the applicants PG-PUB (US 2025/0031017 A1), and table 2. The GTP-TEID appears to be associated with a different message e.g. NG-RAN node to AMF, see par.[0087 – 0090]. This message is used for user plane transport between the gNB-CU and gNB-DU, but the message is transmitted between the base station and AMF.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 8, 17, and 19, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu (US 2024/0407022 A1), in view Chen et al. (US 2023/0179958 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 17, the disclosure of Wu teaches:
a method performed by a distributed unit (fig.1b depicts a Distributed Unit (DU) of a base station, par.[0045, 0058]), of a base station (fig.1b depicts a distributed base station, par.[0058]), the distributed unit comprising a processor (par.[0049] which recites, in part, “The base station 104 includes processing hardware 130, which can include one or more general-purpose processors (e.g., central processing units (CPU)”) and a memory (par.[0049] which recites, in part, “and a computer-readable memory storing machine-readable instructions executable on the one or more general-purpose processor(s), and/or special-purpose processing units.”), the method comprising:
transmitting (fig.5a depicts the Context Setup Response message transmitted from the DU in element 508), to a central unit of the base station (fig.1b depicts a CU of the base station, fig.5 also depicts the transmission of the MBS Context Response from the DU to the CU in element 508, par.[0087]), the central unit comprising a processor (par.[0049] which recites, in part, “The base station 104 includes processing hardware 130, which can include one or more general-purpose processors (e.g., central processing units (CPU)”) and a memory (par.[0049] which recites, in part, “and a computer-readable memory storing machine-readable instructions executable on the one or more general-purpose processor(s), and/or special-purpose processing units.”), a message (fig.5 element 508 which describes the Context Setup Response) including first information identifying a user plane tunnel between the central unit and the distributed unit (fig.5 see transport layer configuration, also, par.[0087] which recites, in part, “including a first DL transport layer configuration to configure a common CU-to-DU DL tunnel for the first MBS session (e.g., for a MRB identified by one of the MRB ID(s)).”. The CU-to-DU tunnel being a user plane tunnel configured to carry user plane data for unicast and/or multicast data, see par.[0005] PTP and/or PTM),
wherein the first information is associated with a Multicast and Broadcast Services (MBS) session (par.[0087] the tunnel is established for the Multicasting Broadcast Service (MBS) session), a radio bearer identifying the MBS session corresponding to the user plane tunnel (par.[0087] which recites, in part, “to configure a common CU-to-DU DL tunnel for the first MBS session (e.g., for a MRB identified by one of the MRB ID(s)).”), and
wherein the message indicates that the user plane tunnel is a shared tunnel (fig.5a element 508 comprises the transport layer configuration, which comprises an indication of the common/shared DL tunnel, see par.[0044] which recites, in part, “the base station may configure DL transport layer configurations corresponding to common DL tunnels for receiving MBS data packets from the CN.”. par.[0010] describes the common tunnel as a shared tunnel. Additionally, par.[0087] which recites, in part, “a DU-to-CU message (e.g., an MBS Context Setup Response message) including a first DL transport layer configuration to configure a common CU-to-DU DL tunnel”. The information to configure the tunnel being an indication that the tunnel is a shared/common tunnel); and
receiving, in a case where the message is transmitted (see fig.5a element 508 wherein the message is transmitted), using the shared tunnel (fig.5a element 526 the DU element 174 receives from the CN element 110 via the CU element 174, MBS data of the first data session. The shared/common tunnel being a DL shared common tunnel for the first MBS session, see, par.[0087] which recites, in part, “a DU-to-CU message (e.g., an MBS Context Setup Response message) including a first DL transport layer configuration to configure a common CU-to-DU DL tunnel for the first MBS session”), a user plane protocol data unit for the MBS session (fig.5a element 526 wherein the MBS data (e.g. a user plane protocol data unit) is sent on the downlink to the UE),
wherein the user plane protocol data unit is configured to be transmitted to a user equipment (UE) (fig.5a the user plane protocol data unit (e.g. MBS data) is sent from the DU to the UE element 102).
While the disclosure of Wu substantially discloses the claimed subject matter, it may not disclose:
wherein the first information is associated with an F1 Application Protocol (F1-AP) identifier identifying the central unit (CU), and an F1-AP identifier identifying the distributed unit.
In an analogous art, the disclosure of Chen teaches:
wherein the first information (par.[0103] describes the context setup response message, and recites, in part, “When the first message is a multicast/broadcast context setup request message, the second message is a multicast/broadcast context setup response message……….Alternatively, that the fifth multicast/broadcast information containing the multicast/broadcast service area configuration information from the DU is received includes that a multicast/broadcast context modification request message from the DU is received”) is associated with an F1 Application Protocol (F1-AP) identifier identifying the central unit (CU) (par.[0106] which corresponds to the fifth multicast/broadcast information, recites, in part, “In an exemplary embodiment, the fifth multicast/broadcast information includes at least one of the following information: a CU multicast/broadcast F1 AP ID,”), and an F1-AP identifier identifying the distributed unit (par.[0106] which recites, in part, “a DU multicast/broadcast F1 AP ID……”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the instant application to combine the teachings of Wu for transmitting tunnel configuration information to a CU from a DU to provide a common tunnel for MBS transmission, with the CU and DU F1-AP ID in the response message as discussed in Chen. The motivation/suggestion would have been that the F1-AP is a common identifier in context request and response messages, used for binding or reference for a DL CU to DU transmission so that the CU can properly identify the UE or UEs receiving a service over the tunnel.
Regarding claim 2, Wu teaches:
wherein the message includes second information identifying the MBS session (par.[0087] which recites, in part, “the MRB ID(s) associated with the first DL transport layer configuration and/or the additional DL transport layer configuration(s).”. The MRB-IDs corresponding to MBS sessions).
Regarding claim 3, Wu teaches:
wherein the message comprises an F1-AP message transmitted from the distributed unit to the central unit (fig.5a element 508, wherein context setup response message is an F1-AP message, see par.[0076] which recites, in part, “More particularly, the CU 172 and the DU 174A/174B can exchange F1-AP messages over an F1-C interface”, and par.[0087] which recites, in part, “In some implementations, the CU-to-DU message is a generic F1AP message or a dedicated F1AP message defined specifically to convey this type of a request (e.g., an MBS Context Setup Request message). In some implementations, the DU-to-CU message of event 508 is a generic F1AP message or a dedicated F1AP message defined specifically for this purpose (e.g., an MBS Context Setup Response message).”).
Regarding claim 4, Wu teaches:
the distributed unit transmits the user plane protocol data unit for the MBS session to the UE (fig.5a element 526 wherein the DU transmits the MBS data to the UE utilizing the tunnel configured in element 508 DL common/shared tunnel).
Regarding claim 5, Chen teaches:
wherein the first information further includes a transport layer address and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) tunneling protocol (GTP) Tunnel Endpoint Identifier (GTP-TEID) (par.[0129] which recites, in part, “multicast/broadcast DL UP TNL info (GTP-U tunnel transport layer address, GTP-TEID)” As can be seen the DL UP TNL information comprises the GTP-U Tunnel Transport Layer Address, and the GTP-TEID which is in the response message transmitted from the DU to the CU).
Regarding claims 8 and 19, the disclosure of Wu teaches:
a method performed by a central unit (fig.1b depicts a Central Unit (CU) of a base station, par.[0045, 0058]), of a base station (fig.1b depicts a distributed base station, par.[0058]), the central unit comprising a processor (par.[0049] which recites, in part, “The base station 104 includes processing hardware 130, which can include one or more general-purpose processors (e.g., central processing units (CPU)”) and a memory (par.[0049] which recites, in part, “and a computer-readable memory storing machine-readable instructions executable on the one or more general-purpose processor(s), and/or special-purpose processing units.”), the method comprising:
receiving (fig.5a depicts the Context Setup Response message transmitted from the DU in element 508), from a distributed unit (DU) of the base station (fig.1b depicts a CU of the base station, fig.5 also depicts the transmission of the MBS Context Response from the DU to the CU in element 508, par.[0087]), the distributed unit comprising a processor (par.[0049] which recites, in part, “The base station 104 includes processing hardware 130, which can include one or more general-purpose processors (e.g., central processing units (CPU)”) and a memory (par.[0049] which recites, in part, “and a computer-readable memory storing machine-readable instructions executable on the one or more general-purpose processor(s), and/or special-purpose processing units.”), a message (fig.5 element 508 which describes the Context Setup Response) including first information identifying a user plane tunnel between the distributed unit and the central unit (fig.5 see transport layer configuration, also, par.[0087] which recites, in part, “including a first DL transport layer configuration to configure a common CU-to-DU DL tunnel for the first MBS session (e.g., for a MRB identified by one of the MRB ID(s)).”. The CU-to-DU tunnel being a user plane tunnel configured to carry user plane data for unicast and/or multicast data, see par.[0005] PTP and/or PTM),
wherein the first information is associated with a Multicast and Broadcast Services (MBS) session (par.[0087] the tunnel is established for the Multicasting Broadcast Service (MBS) session), a radio bearer identifying the MBS session corresponding to the user plane tunnel (par.[0087] which recites, in part, “to configure a common CU-to-DU DL tunnel for the first MBS session (e.g., for a MRB identified by one of the MRB ID(s)).”), and
wherein the message indicates that the user plane tunnel is a shared tunnel (fig.5a element 508 comprises the transport layer configuration, which comprises an indication of the common/shared DL tunnel, see par.[0044] which recites, in part, “the base station may configure DL transport layer configurations corresponding to common DL tunnels for receiving MBS data packets from the CN.”. par.[0010] describes the common tunnel as a shared tunnel. Additionally, par.[0087] which recites, in part, “a DU-to-CU message (e.g., an MBS Context Setup Response message) including a first DL transport layer configuration to configure a common CU-to-DU DL tunnel”. The information to configure the tunnel being an indication that the tunnel is a shared/common tunnel); and
receiving, in a case where the message is transmitted (see fig.5a element 508 wherein the message is transmitted), using the shared tunnel (fig.5a element 526 the DU element 174 receives from the CN element 110 via the CU element 174, MBS data of the first data session. The shared/common tunnel being a DL shared common tunnel for the first MBS session, see, par.[0087] which recites, in part, “a DU-to-CU message (e.g., an MBS Context Setup Response message) including a first DL transport layer configuration to configure a common CU-to-DU DL tunnel for the first MBS session”), a user plane protocol data unit for the MBS session (fig.5a element 526 wherein the MBS data (e.g. a user plane protocol data unit) is sent on the downlink to the UE),
wherein the user plane protocol data unit is configured to be transmitted to a user equipment (UE) (fig.5a the user plane protocol data unit (e.g. MBS data) is sent from the DU to the UE element 102).
While the disclosure of Wu substantially discloses the claimed subject matter, it may not disclose:
wherein the first information is associated with an F1 Application Protocol (F1-AP) identifier identifying the central unit (CU), and an F1-AP identifier identifying the distributed unit.
In an analogous art, the disclosure of Chen teaches:
wherein the first information (par.[0103] describes the context setup response message, and recites, in part, “When the first message is a multicast/broadcast context setup request message, the second message is a multicast/broadcast context setup response message……….Alternatively, that the fifth multicast/broadcast information containing the multicast/broadcast service area configuration information from the DU is received includes that a multicast/broadcast context modification request message from the DU is received”) is associated with an F1 Application Protocol (F1-AP) identifier identifying the central unit (CU) (par.[0106] which corresponds to the fifth multicast/broadcast information, recites, in part, “In an exemplary embodiment, the fifth multicast/broadcast information includes at least one of the following information: a CU multicast/broadcast F1 AP ID,”), and an F1-AP identifier identifying the distributed unit (par.[0106] which recites, in part, “a DU multicast/broadcast F1 AP ID……”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the instant application to combine the teachings of Wu for transmitting tunnel configuration information to a CU from a DU to provide a common tunnel for MBS transmission, with the CU and DU F1-AP ID in the response message as discussed in Chen. The motivation/suggestion would have been that the F1-AP is a common identifier in context request and response messages, used for binding or reference for a DL CU to DU transmission so that the CU can properly identify the UE or UEs receiving a service over the tunnel.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Chen et al. (EP 4 138 423 B1) - “Multicast/Broadcast Information Transmission Methods, Storage Medium, and Electronic Device”
Xu et al. (US 2023/0284244 A1) “Method and Apparatus for Resource Allocation in Wireless Communication System”
Byun et al. (US 2023/0292219 A1) “Method and Apparatus for Multicast and Broadcast Service in a Wireless Communication System”
Gao et al. (WO 2022/151297 A1) “Data Transmission Method and Apparatus”
Dai et al. (US 2024/0236619 A1) “Method and Apparatus for Multicast and Broadcast Services”
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMAAL HENSON whose telephone number is (571)272-5339. The examiner can normally be reached M-Thu: 7:30 am - 6:30 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Derrick Ferris can be reached at (571)272-3123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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JAMAAL HENSON
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2411
/JAMAAL HENSON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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