CTNF 18/717,085 CTNF 91970 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. Claims 1-5, 7-11 and 13-14 have been presented for examination and are rejected. Priority Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55 and of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy was filed on 06/06/2024. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 6 and 12 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but may be allowable if only the claim languages overcome all rejections and rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 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 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. 07-20-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 of this title, 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 1-2, 7-8 and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US 20240022954 hereinafter Chen) in view of Bi (US 20220264359 hereinafter Bi) . With respect to claims 1, 7 and 13-14, Chen teaches a method for performing operations by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system (Chen, see FIG. 2 and Parag. [0263] a user equipment (UE) 201, wireless communication device, wireless), the method comprising: calculating data volume (DV) of a first QoS flow to which at least one SDU belongs (Chen, see FIG. 1 and paragraphs [0010-0014] calculating a first data volume in a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP); and transmitting a first Buffer Status Reports (BSR); herein, the first data volume is used for the first BSR and any of a PDCP Service Data Unit (SDU )… a PDCP SDU of an Acknowledged Mode Data Radio Bearer (AM DRB) that will be retransmitted…); and based on at least one condition being fulfilled, transmitting a DV report to a network, wherein the DV report includes an identifier of the first QoS flow and the calculated DV (Chen, see paragraph [0135] a calculation of the first data volume is for reporting a buffer status , and the first buffer status is used for reporting the buffer status (i.e., condition being met and DV report can be transmitted to network ). Para. [0293] calculates a first data volume in a PDCP; transmits a first buffer status report; herein, the first data volume is used for the first buffer status report. Paragraph [0339] further discloses the set of QoS characteristics comprises resource type, default priority , PDB, error packet rate, default maximum data burst volume and … a default priority is identified by an integer, and the smaller the value, the higher the priority (i.e., priority is identified, transmitting a DV report to network this is equivalent to one of the condition being met)). Although Chen must implicitly teach "receiving a service data unit..." since the reference discloses "calculating DV to which at least one SDU belongs, Chen nevertheless fails to explicitly disclose receiving at least one service data unit (SDU) belonging to a first Quality of Service (QoS) flow from an upper layer. However, Bi discloses receiving at least one service data unit (SDU) belonging to a first Quality of Service (QoS) flow from an upper layer (Bi, see paragraphs [0050-0052] At the reception of a SDAP service data unit (SDU) from an upper layer for a QoS flow, the SDAP entity will if there is no stored QoS flow to DRB mapping for the QoS flow, the SDAP entity will map the SDAP SDU to a default DRB, or Map the SDAP SDU to a DRB based on the stored QoS flow to DRB mapping). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of Chen with the teaching of Bi to provide the method for obtaining the Service Data Unit (SDU) of the Quality of Service (QoS) flow from the upper layer as this would triggers the Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer to map that SDU to a specific Data Radio Bearer (DRB) and mark it with the correct QoS Flow Identifier (QFI). It would allow the network to map multiple QoS flows with identical requirements onto a single DRB, avoiding the overhead of establishing and maintaining a separate bearer for every individual flow. With respect to claims 2 and 8, Chen-Bi teaches the method, wherein the at least one condition comprises at least one of: a) the calculated DV being greater than or equal to a threshold related to the first QoS flow, b) a priority of the first QoS flow being higher than priority of a second flow of which a most recent DV report has been transmitted (Chen, see paragraph [0339] the set of QoS characteristics comprises resource type, default priority, PDB, error packet rate, default maximum data burst volume and default averaging window; a type of resource comprises Guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR) and Non-GBR; a default priority is identified by an integer, and the smaller the value, the higher the priority), and c) a periodic timer for the DV report being expired . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 3 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US 20240022954 hereinafter Chen) in view of Bi (US 20220264359 hereinafter Bi) further in view of Lee et al. (US 20170064738 hereinafter Lee) . With respect to claims 3 and 9, Chen-Bi teaches the method, yet fails to disclose wherein, based on there being one or more SDUs belonging to the first QoS flow which have been transmitted but are not discarded yet, the one or more SDUs are not considered in calculating the DV. However, Lee discloses wherein, based on there being one or more SDUs belonging to the first QoS flow which have been transmitted but are not discarded yet, the one or more SDUs are not considered in calculating the DV (Lee, see paragraph [0092] when the receiving window has already moved, i.e., when the discard information of the corresponding SDU is received after the successfully received SDU is delivered to the higher layer, the receiving side ignores this information and informs the transmitting side of a current position of the receiving window. Yet, the receiving side may not discard the SDU that was discarded by the transmitting side . Namely, if the discard information for the SDU that was successfully received and delivered to the higher layer is received, the corresponding SDU cannot be discarded because the corresponding SDU was already delivered to the higher layer ). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of Chen-Bi with the teaching of Lee to provide the method for considering PDCP SDUs which have been successfully transmitted but not yet discarded in the Data Volume (DV) calculation for the first QoS flow is to prevent the over-reporting of buffered data in Buffer Status Reports (BSR). Also, accurate scheduling and efficient resource usage by excluding transmitted, but not discarded packets, the UE reports only the truly outstanding data. This prevents the scheduler from over allocating radio resources for a buffer that is actually empty or mostly empty . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 4-5 and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US 20240022954 hereinafter Chen) in view of Bi (US 20220264359 hereinafter Bi) further in view of Han et al. (US 20200396631 hereinafter Han) . With respect to claims 4 and 10, Chen-Bi teaches the method, yet fails to disclose wherein based on the UE being configured with both the first QoS flow and a second QoS flow, the DV report further includes an identifier of the second QoS flow and the DV of the second QoS flow. However, Han discloses wherein based on the UE being configured with both the first QoS flow and a second QoS flow, the DV report further includes an identifier of the second QoS flow and the DV of the second QoS flow (Han, see paragraphs [0007-0008] ) where the second data volume report is used to indicate the volume of the data that is of the terminal device and that passes through the second network device, and the second data volume report includes QFIs of one or more QoS flows (i.e., first and second QoS flow ), identifiers of PDU sessions to which the one or more QoS flows belong, and data volumes of the one or more QoS flows; and obtaining, by the first network device, the first data volume report based on the second data volume report ). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of Chen-Bi with the teaching of Han to provide the method for a first and second QoS flow, including the identifier and Dynamic Volume (DV) of the second QoS flow in the DV report allows the network to provide precise, flow-level reporting and resource management for multiple concurrent services. Precise traffic monitoring by including both identifiers allows the network to monitor the specific data volumes (DVs) of multiple active flows, rather than only reporting an aggregate volume, which is essential when flows have different performance requirements. With respect to claims 5 and 11, Chen-Bi-Han teaches the method, wherein the threshold related to the first QoS flow is different from the threshold related to the second QoS flow (Bi, see paragraph[0005] determining, by the communication device, that the cumulative data volume of the first QoS flow meets a specified data threshold . Paragraph [0008] further discloses determining, by the communication device, a cumulative data volume of a second QoS flow ; and determining, by the communication device, that the cumulative data volume of the second QoS flow fails to meet the specified data threshold, and based thereon: mapping, by the communication device, the second QoS flow to a second data radio bearer, where the maximum data volume of the second data bearer is greater than a maximum data volume of the second QoS flow) . Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. This includes: PG. Pub. US 20220131774 Method for reporting data volume in fifth generation by network node, involves transmitting data volume report to second network node, where data volume report is provided with indication of radio access technology of data volume report. PG. Pub. US 20200344632 Method for transmitting data report involves sending first data report to access device and receiving request for instructing first device to report information indicating item of data amount on row of data report of device . 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892 Notice of References Cited . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ELIZABETH KASSA whose telephone number is (571)270-0567. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Friday 9 AM -6 PM. 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, Ario Etienne can be reached on 517-272-4001. 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. 05/13/2026 /ELIZABETH KASSA/Examiner, Art Unit 2457 /ARIO ETIENNE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2457 Application/Control Number: 18/717,085 Page 2 Art Unit: 2457 Application/Control Number: 18/717,085 Page 3 Art Unit: 2457
Prosecution Insights