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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments and amendments, filed 3/3/26, with respect to the rejection of the claims under 35 U.S.C. 101 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore the rejection has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments and amendments with respect to the rejection(s) of the claim(s) under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of newly found prior art.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 –
(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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-8, 12-13 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; System architecture for the 5G System (5GS); Stage 2 (Release 16)” of 3GPP TS 23.501 V16.7.0 dated December, 2020, hereinafter referred to as “3GPP.”
As per claim 1, 3GPP teaches an access network device, comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is configured to store a program, and the processor is configured to invoke the program in the memory to cause the access network device to perform: receiving timestamp information of first data, wherein the timestamp information is used to indicate a time at which a receiver or sender of the first data is expected to process the first data or/and a time at which the first data is transmitted,
wherein the timestamp information is carried on a user plane or comprised in a user plane message, and the timestamp information is carried in a header of a data packet of the first data,
wherein the timestamp information is used to determine a processing policy for processing the first data by the access network device, and the processing policy for the first data comprises a transmission time of the first data [pages 322-323].
As per claim 3, 3GPP teaches the access network device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to invoke the program in the memory to cause the access network device to further perform: receiving quality of service (QOS) information of the first data and/or associated information of the first data, wherein the associated information is used to indicate information of second data associated with the first data; wherein the QoS information and/or the associated information and the timestamp information are used together to determine a processing policy for processing the first data by the access network device [pages 0132-0134].
As per claim 4, 3GPP teaches the access network device according to claim 1, wherein the processing policy for the first data comprises one or more of the following operations: buffering of the first data; or resource allocation and/or scheduling of the first data [page 94].
As per claim 5, 3GPP teaches the access network device according to claim 1, wherein the receiver comprises one or more of the access network device, a core network element, an application server, and a terminal device; and the sender comprises the access network device, a core network element, an application server, or a terminal device [page 91].
As per claim 6, 3GPP teaches the access network device according to claim 5, wherein the terminal device comprises one or more of an access stratum (AS), a non-access stratum (NAS), and an application layer [page 314].
As per claim 7, 3GPP teaches the access network device according to claim 1, wherein the timestamp information comprises one or more of the following information: a time at which the first data is expected to arrive at the receiver, a time at which the first data is expected to be decoded, a time at which the first data is expected to be played, a time at which the receiver is expected to send the first data, a time at which the sender is expected to send the first data, and the time at which the first data is transmitted [pages 311-312].
As per claim 8, 3GPP teaches the access network device according to claim 7, wherein the time at which the first data is expected to arrive at the receiver comprises one or more of the following: a time at which the first data is expected to arrive at an access stratum (AS) layer of the receiver; a time at which the first data is expected to arrive at a non-access stratum (NAS) layer of the receiver; and a time at which the first data is expected to arrive at an application layer of the receiver [page 309].
As per claim 12, 3GPP teaches the access network device according to claim 1, wherein the timestamp information is carried in one or more of the following messages: a medium access control control element (MAC CE), uplink control information (UCI), physical layer indication information, scrambling code information, port information, a transmission resource, and a resource request [page 262].
As per claim 13, 3GPP teaches the access network device according to claim 12, wherein the transmission resource or the resource request comprises one or more of the following messages: a buffer status report (BSR), a scheduling request (SR), an uplink shared channel (UL-SCH), a downlink shared channel (DL-SCH), an uplink (UL) scheduling grant, and downlink (DL) assignment [page 55].
As per claim 17, 3GPP teaches a core network element, comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is configured to store a program, and the processor is configured to invoke the program in the memory to cause the core network element to perform: sending timestamp information of first data, wherein the timestamp information is used to indicate a time at which a receiver or sender of the first data is expected to process the first data or/and a time at which the first data is transmitted,
wherein the timestamp information is carried on a user plane or comprised in a user plane message, and the timestamp information is carried in a header of a data packet of the first data, wherein the timestamp information is used to determine a processing policy for processing the first data by the access network device, wherein the processing policy for the first data comprises a transmission time of the first data [pages 322-323].
As per claim 18, 3GPP teaches the core network element according to claim 17, wherein the core network element is an SMF network element [page 220].
As per claim 20, 3GPP teaches the terminal device according to claim 19, wherein the processor is configured to invoke the program in the memory to cause the terminal device to further perform: obtaining the timestamp information based on application layer information of the first data [page 239].
Claim 19 has similar limitations as to the rejected claims above therefore it is being rejected under the same rationale.
There are prior art made of record not relied upon but is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See attached.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 extension fee 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 RANODHI N SERRAO whose telephone number is (571)272-7967. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, John Follansbee can be reached on (571) 272-3964. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Ranodhi N. Serrao
/RANODHI SERRAO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2444
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