DETAILED ACTION
1. This action is responsive to communication filed on 28 October 2025, with acknowledgement of an original application filed on 30 April 2020.
2. Claims 16-29 are currently pending. Claims 16 and 23 are in independent forms. Claims 16-18, 21-26, and 28-29 has been amended. Claims 1-15 has been cancelled.
Priority
3. Foreign priority has been claimed to IN application # 202141059845 filed on 12/21/2021, and 12/09/2022.
Drawings
4. The drawings filed on 11/18/2023 are accepted by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
5. Applicant’s arguments filed 30 December 2025 have been fully considered however they are moot due to new grounds of rejection below initiated by applicant’s amendment.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
7. Claims 16-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. US Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0067958 (hereinafter Lee) in view of Mun et al. US Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0165908 (hereinafter Mun).
Regarding claim 16, Lee discloses a method performed by a user equipment (UE) (Fig. 1, UE 104), the method comprising:
“obtaining, from an application function (AF) entity or a multicast and broadcast service function (MBSF) entity, a service announcement including security information for an MBS security procedure” (see Lee Pars. 0084-0085, 0122-0124, a multicast or broadcast transmission in 5G NR may be secured using a 5G NR network architecture including components of a 5G core (5GC). For example, the application (e.g., an application function (AF)) may interact with the 5GC via a network exposure function (NEF) and/or policy control function (PCF) to establish a service policy. A Session Management Function (SMF) may configure and control one or more quality of service (QoS) flows for the multicast or broadcast service at other nodes including a user plane function (UPF), radio access network (RAN) nodes, and user equipment (UEs));
Lee does not explicitly discloses identifying whether a security capability of the UE supports the MBS security procedure at a service layer based on the security information; and receiving, MBS traffic via an individual MBS traffic delivery method, in case that the security capability of the UE does not support the MBS security procedure at a service layer.
However, in analogues art, Mun discloses identifying whether a security capability of the UE supports the MBS security procedure at a service layer based on the security information (see Mun par. 0006, providing a method for receiving a multicast broadcasting service (MBS), the method including: reporting status information about at least one of capability and a channel status of a mobile station to a base station; receiving information about an available service layer level according to the status information among all available service layer levels for providing the MBS from the base station; and adaptively receiving the MBS, which is provided by the base station via at least one available service layer according to the available service layer level, in accordance with at least one of the capability and the channel status of the mobile station); and receiving, MBS traffic via an individual MBS traffic delivery method, in case that the security capability of the UE does not support the MBS security procedure at a service layer (see Mun par. 0007, receiving information about all available service layer levels for providing the MBS; transmitting status information about at least one of capability and a channel status of a mobile station and information about an available service layer level according to the status information among all the available service layer levels; and adaptively receiving the MBS, which is provided by the base station via at least one available service layer according to the available service layer level, in accordance with at least one of the capability and the channel status of the mobile station).
Therefore it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to incorporate the teachings of Mun in to the system of Lee in order to include receiving the MBS provided via the base layer and selectively receiving the MBS provided via the at least one enhanced layer according to at least one of the capability and the channel status of the mobile station if the MBS is provided via the at least one enhanced layer (see Mun par. 0011).
Regarding claims 17 and 24, Lee in view of Mun discloses the method of claim 16, the UE of claim 23,
Mun further discloses receiving, from a base station, the MBS traffic based on the security information, in case that the security capability of the UE supports the MBS security procedure at the service layer based on the security information (see Mun par. 0006, reporting status information about at least one of capability and a channel status of a mobile station to a base station; receiving information about an available service layer level according to the status information among all available service layer levels for providing the MBS from the base station).
Therefore it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to incorporate the teachings of Mun in to the system of Lee in order to include receiving the MBS provided via the base layer and selectively receiving the MBS provided via the at least one enhanced layer according to at least one of the capability and the channel status of the mobile station if the MBS is provided via the at least one enhanced layer (see Mun par. 0011).
Regarding claims 18 and 25, Lee in view of Mun discloses the method of claim 16, the UE of claim 23,
Lee further discloses wherein the security information includes information on the MBS security procedure for a control plane or a user plane (see Lee par. 0084, A Session Management Function (SMF) may configure and control one or more quality of service (QoS) flows for the multicast or broadcast service at other nodes including a user plane function (UPF), radio access network (RAN) nodes, and user equipment (UEs)).
Regarding claims 19 and 26, Lee in view of Mun discloses the method of claim 16, the UE of claim 23,
Lee further discloses wherein the receiving of the MBS traffic comprises: joining an MBS session by transmitting, a non-access stratum (NAS) message including an indication of requesting the individual MBS traffic delivery method to a session management function (SMF) entity (see Lee par. 0007, receiving the multicast-broadcast key may include receiving the at least one multicast-broadcast key from the SMF that generated the at least one multicast-broadcast key via NAS signaling. Decoding the one or more QoS flow packets may include decoding encoded QoS flow packets from a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer).
Regarding claims 20 and 27, Lee in view of Mun discloses the method of claim 19, the UE of claim 26,
Lee further discloses wherein the NAS message includes at least one of: a protocol data unit (PDU) session establishment request, a PDU session modification request, security mode complete message, or a registration request message (see Lee par. 0150 The SMF 194 may transmit a PDU session establishment accept message 810 to the UE 104. The PDU session establishment accept message 810 may be a NAS signaling message including the key ID that identifies the multicast-broadcast key for the QoS flow and the actual multicast-broadcast key, which may be a root multicast-broadcast key. Accordingly, the SMF 194 may distribute the multicast-broadcast key to the UE 104 that requested the PDU session).
Regarding claims 21 and 28, Lee in view of Mun discloses the method of claim 19, the UE of claim 23,
Mun further discloses receiving, from a base station, the MBS traffic (see Mun par. 0035, the base station 201 provides the MBS to MSs 202 and 203, which are close to a base station 201 and have a good channel status, using both the base layer using the QPSK and the enhanced layer using the 16QAM as the modulation scheme and provides the MBS to MSs 204 and 205, which are far from the base station 201 and have a bad channel status, using only the base layer using the QPSK); and identifying whether an MBS traffic protection is applied to the MBS traffic (see Mun par. 0002, data transmission between a base station and a MS is made via a "service flow". The service flow includes a service flow identifier (SF ID) for identifying the service flow between the base station and the MS, a connection identifier (CID) for identifying a connection for delivering service flow traffic, and quality of service (QoS) parameters for service quality and security information for ensuring the security of the service flow), wherein the identifying of whether security capability of the UE supports a procedure is applied in case that the MBS traffic protection is applied to the MBS traffic (see Mun par. 0046, When the DSA message is exchanged in order to establish an MBS session, a method for applying the capabilities and/or the channel statuses of the MSs is defined and, when the base station transmits MBS data traffic to the MS, a method for informing the MS of whether the traffic corresponds to the base layer or the enhanced layer is defined).
Therefore it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to incorporate the teachings of Mun in to the system of Lee in order to include receiving the MBS provided via the base layer and selectively receiving the MBS provided via the at least one enhanced layer according to at least one of the capability and the channel status of the mobile station if the MBS is provided via the at least one enhanced layer (see Mun par. 0011).
Regarding claims 22 and 29, Lee in view of Mun discloses the method of claim 19, the UE of claim 23,
Mun further discloses wherein the security information includes at least one of: MBS traffic protected at a service layer, the MBS traffic unprotected at the service layer, indications for which security procedures are supported by a network, the security procedures including a control-plane procedure or a user-plane procedure, the MBS traffic allowed via 5G Core (5GC) individual MBS traffic delivery method, the MBS traffic not allowed via 5GC individual MBS traffic delivery method, different levels of protection supported for point-to-multipoint delivery and point-to- point delivery, and the different levels of protection not supported for point-to-multipoint delivery and point-to-point delivery (see Mun par. 0007, a method for receiving a multicast broadcasting service (MBS), the method including: receiving information about all available service layer levels for providing the MBS; transmitting status information about at least one of capability and a channel status of a mobile station and information about an available service layer level according to the status information among all the available service layer levels; and adaptively receiving the MBS, which is provided by the base station via at least one available service layer according to the available service layer level, in accordance with at least one of the capability and the channel status of the mobile station).
Therefore it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to incorporate the teachings of Mun in to the system of Lee in order to include receiving the MBS provided via the base layer and selectively receiving the MBS provided via the at least one enhanced layer according to at least one of the capability and the channel status of the mobile station if the MBS is provided via the at least one enhanced layer (see Mun par. 0011).
Regarding claim 23, Lee discloses a user equipment (UE) (Fig. 1, UE 104), the UE comprising:
“at least one transceiver” (Fig. 15, transceiver 1502); and
at least one processor (Fig. 15, processor 1512) communicatively coupled to the at least one transceiver and at least one memory (Fig. 15, memory 1516), communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, storing instructions executable by the at least one processor individually or in any combination to cause the UE to:
“obtain, from an application function (AF) entity or a multicast and broadcast service function (MBSF) entity, a service announcement including security information for an MBS security procedure” (see Lee Pars. 0084-0085, 0122-0124, a multicast or broadcast transmission in 5G NR may be secured using a 5G NR network architecture including components of a 5G core (5GC). For example, the application (e.g., an application function (AF)) may interact with the 5GC via a network exposure function (NEF) and/or policy control function (PCF) to establish a service policy. A Session Management Function (SMF) may configure and control one or more quality of service (QoS) flows for the multicast or broadcast service at other nodes including a user plane function (UPF), radio access network (RAN) nodes, and user equipment (UEs));
Lee does not explicitly discloses identify whether a security capability of the UE supports the MBS security procedure at a service layer based on the security information; and receive, MBS traffic via an individual MBS traffic delivery method, in case that the security capability of the UE does not support the MBS security procedure at a service layer.
However, in analogues art, Mun discloses identify whether a security capability of the UE supports the MBS security procedure at a service layer based on the security information (see Mun par. 0006, providing a method for receiving a multicast broadcasting service (MBS), the method including: reporting status information about at least one of capability and a channel status of a mobile station to a base station; receiving information about an available service layer level according to the status information among all available service layer levels for providing the MBS from the base station; and adaptively receiving the MBS, which is provided by the base station via at least one available service layer according to the available service layer level, in accordance with at least one of the capability and the channel status of the mobile station); and receive, MBS traffic via an individual MBS traffic delivery method, in case that the security capability of the UE does not support the MBS security procedure at a service layer (see Mun par. 0007, receiving information about all available service layer levels for providing the MBS; transmitting status information about at least one of capability and a channel status of a mobile station and information about an available service layer level according to the status information among all the available service layer levels; and adaptively receiving the MBS, which is provided by the base station via at least one available service layer according to the available service layer level, in accordance with at least one of the capability and the channel status of the mobile station).
Therefore it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to incorporate the teachings of Mun in to the system of Lee in order to include receiving the MBS provided via the base layer and selectively receiving the MBS provided via the at least one enhanced layer according to at least one of the capability and the channel status of the mobile station if the MBS is provided via the at least one enhanced layer (see Mun par. 0011).
Conclusion
8. 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 SAMUEL AMBAYE whose telephone number is (571)270-7635. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
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/SAMUEL AMBAYE/Examiner, Art Unit 2433
/JEFFREY C PWU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2433
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