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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 03/11/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claim(s) have been considered but are moot because of the new grounds of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-6, 8-13 and 15-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20190357082 A1 herein Kim in view of US 20230056442 A1 herein Ly.
Claim 1, Kim discloses a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) (0076, Fig. 4) comprising:
a transceiver, memory, and one or more processors (0076, network interface, memory and processor; Fig. 4: 460, 430 and 410) configured to:
send a request for establishing a multi-access protocol data unit (MA PDU) session (0047, triggering a request change for a MA PDU session), wherein the request indicates support for at least one steering capability and support for one or more steering modes associated with the at least one steering capability (0047-0049, Fig. 2: S210, ATSSS preference is the same format as the ATSSS rule, which indicates support for steering modes and steering capability);
receive, in response to the request, one or more steering rules comprising including a first rule that includes a load balancing steering mode, of the one or more steering modes (Fig. 3, 0011-0013, receiving steering rules including modes of, active-standby, smallest delay, load balancing and etc.), in association with an indicator that adaptive traffic steering is enabled for the MA PDU session (0051-0056, adaptive rule changes corresponding to adaptive traffic steering behavior);
Kim may not explicitly disclose determine, based on the received indicator, splitting percentages for steering traffic for on first and second accesses of the MA PDU session; and send information indicating the splitting percentages for steering traffic.
Ly discloses determine, based on the received indicator, splitting percentages for steering traffic for on first and second accesses of the MA PDU session (0152, the UE 201 uses data it has of UL re-transmissions, possibly signal strengths of the access networks, and other metrics to adapt traffic splitting between 3GPP and non-3GPP accesses. The split percentages may be adapted by the UE 201 to changing network or UE conditions such as lower received signal strength, UE mobility, or battery level.); and
send information indicating the splitting percentages for steering traffic (Fig. 10: reporting data for analytics). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kim to include adjusting steering of multiple accesses as taught by Ly so as to adaptively adjust steering to improve traffic distribution efficiency.
Claim 2, Kim may not explicitly disclose wherein the information is sent in a performance measurement function (PMF) message.
Ly discloses wherein the information is sent in a performance measurement function (PMF) message (0155, UE periodically provides data to the PMG). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kim to include adjusting steering of multiple accesses as taught by Ly so as to adaptively adjust steering to improve traffic distribution efficiency.
Claim 3, Kim may not explicitly disclose wherein the transceiver and one or more processors configured to send the information indicating splitting percentages for steering traffic which includes to: sending, using performance measurement function (PMF) protocol signaling, the information indicating the splitting percentages for steering traffic for the MA PDU session.
Ly discloses wherein the transceiver, memory and one or more processors configured to send the information indicating splitting percentages for steering traffic which includes to: sending, using performance measurement function (PMF) protocol signaling, the information indicating the splitting percentages for steering traffic for the MA PDU session (0152, 0155). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kim to include adjusting steering of multiple accesses as taught by Ly so as to adaptively adjust steering to improve traffic distribution efficiency.
Claim 4, Kim may not explicitly disclose wherein the sending the information indicating the one or more percentages for steering traffic for the MA PDU session comprises: sending, using user plane signaling, the information indicating the one or more percentages for steering traffic for the MA PDU session.
Ly wherein the sending the information indicating the one or more percentages for steering traffic for the MA PDU session comprises: sending, using user plane signaling, the information indicating the one or more percentages for steering traffic for the MA PDU session (0152, 0155 analytics sent to the UPF). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kim to include adjusting steering of multiple accesses as taught by Ly so as to adaptively adjust steering to improve traffic distribution efficiency.
Claim 5, Kim discloses wherein the steering capability comprises an adaptive traffic steering capability (0051-0056, ATSSS rules are modified based on local and network conditions).
Claim 6, Kim discloses wherein the one or more steering rules comprise one or more access traffic steering, switching, and splitting (ATSSS) rules (0047-0049, ATSSS preference/rules).
Claim 8, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 1.
Claim 9, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 2.
Claim 10, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 3.
Claim 11, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 4.
Claim 12, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 5.
Claim 13, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 6.
Claim 15, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 1.
Claim 16, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 2.
Claim 17, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 3.
Claim 18, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 5.
Claim 19, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 6.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20190306752 A1 - In an aspect, the disclosure provides a method for distributing uplink data flow between different access networks in a 5G communication system. The method would include not limited to maintaining an ATSSS rules table; receiving a request to establish an uplink data flow to a DN; determining from the ATSSS rule table whether the DN is in the ATSSS rule table in response to receiving the request to establish the uplink data flow to the DN; selecting a first PDU session from the ATSSS rule table for the uplink data flow to the DN in response to having been determined that the DN is in the ATSSS rule table; and creating a second PDU session for the uplink data flow to the DN and recording the second PDU session in the ATSSS rule table in response to having been determined that the DN is not in the ATSSS rule table.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mehmood B. Khan whose telephone number is (571)272-9277. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30 am-6:30 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, Nishant Divecha can be reached on (571) 270-3125. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Mehmood B. Khan/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2468