CTNF 18/781,653 CTNF 80364 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. DETAILED ACTION Claim Objections Claim 15 is objected to because of the following informality: Re claim 15, the same limitation is repeated. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. 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 AIA Claim s 1, 3, 7, 8 and 12-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102( a)(1 ) as being anticipated by Shih et al (US 2018/0352491, “Shih”) . Re claims 1 and 13, Shih discloses an apparatus (figure 8, element 802) sending toward a network node (figure 8, element 804) of a communication network, information comprising a radio resource control setup request message, wherein the information comprises an add slice request of at least one requested slice for fulfillment of at least one service characteristic for the apparatus (figure 8, step 812; paragraph [0078]), and based on the radio resource control setup request message, receiving from the network node an indication of one of an acceptance or a rejection by the network node of each of the at least one requested slice (figure 8, step 814; paragraph [0082]). Re claims 14 and 15, Shih discloses an apparatus (figure 8, element 804) receiving information comprising, a radio resource control setup request message for call admission with a network device of the communication network (figure 8, step 812), wherein the information comprises an add slice request indication of at least one requested slice for fulfillment of at least one service characteristic for the network device (paragraph [0078]); based on the receiving, determining one of an acceptance or a rejection by the network node of each of the at least one requested slice; and based on the receiving, determining one of an acceptance or a rejection by the network node of each of the at least one requested slice (figure 8, step 814; paragraph [0082]). Re claim 3, Shih discloses the add slice request comprises an indication of a single slice the apparatus requests to join (paragraph [0082]) or an indication of a set of slices the apparatus requests to join. Re claim 7, Shih discloses the radio resource control setup request message is provided with a message 3 of a random access channel process associated with the radio resource control setup (paragraphs [0135] and [0166]). Re claim 8, Shih discloses receive from the network node an indication of one of an acceptance or a rejection by the network node of each of the at least one requested slice (figure 8, step 814; paragraph [0082]). Re claim 12, Shih discloses receiving from the network node at least one of a call setup message or a radio resource control add slice complete message (paragraph [0094]) . 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 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 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shih in view of Kim et al (US 2024/0373300, “Kim”) . Re claim 2, Shih discloses all of the limitations of the base claim, but fails to disclose the indication comprises an indication of an association of a context to a slice specific distributed unit component. However, Kim discloses sending an indication of an association of a context to a slice specific distributed unit (figure 15, step 0; paragraphs [0186] and [0195]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Shih with Kim for the benefit of reducing latency and improving performance by utilizing distributed unit . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shih in view of Yang et al (US 2023/0254846, “Yang”) . Re claims 4 and 5, Shih discloses all of the limitations of the base claim, but fails to disclose the add slice request comprises the indication of service latency with a single bit indicating one of delay-sensitivity or delay-tolerance. However, Yang discloses using one bit indicating delay-sensitivity (paragraph [0062]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Shih with Yang for the benefit of meeting QoS requirement of UE to deliver delay sensitive service. Re claim 6, Shih discloses implicitly the add slice request indication is sent using an information element (figure 8, step 812; paragraph [0078]) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shih in view of Park et al (US 2022/0210868, “Park”) . Re claim 9, Shih discloses all of the limitations of the base claim, but fails to disclose in case of rejection the indication is that all created resources for the rejected slices inside at least one distributed unit of the network node are released. However, Park discloses a distributed unit releasing configured resources (paragraph [0285]; figure 27). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Shih with Park for the benefit of providing efficient utilization of network resource. Re claim 10, the modified system of Shih discloses the indication is using one of a radio resource control release message (paragraph [0285] of Park) or a next generation application protocol user equipment context release request message . 07-21-aia AIA Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shih in view of Baskaran et al (US 2023/0262453, “Baskaran”) . Re claim 11, Shih discloses the indication is that a radio resource reconfiguration will occur (paragraph [0094], but fails to disclose performing security setup step. However, Baskaran discloses adding security context indicator based on UE security capabilities (figure 4b, step 419). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Shih with Baskaran for the benefit of providing the confidentiality and integrity protection of signaling. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Hong Cho whose telephone number is 571-272-3087. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri during 8 am to 4 pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Hassan Phillips can be reached on 571-272-3940. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). /HONG S CHO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467 Application/Control Number: 18/781,653 Page 2 Art Unit: 2467 Application/Control Number: 18/781,653 Page 3 Art Unit: 2467 Application/Control Number: 18/781,653 Page 4 Art Unit: 2467 Application/Control Number: 18/781,653 Page 5 Art Unit: 2467 Application/Control Number: 18/781,653 Page 6 Art Unit: 2467 Application/Control Number: 18/781,653 Page 7 Art Unit: 2467
Prosecution Insights