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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. CN202210326256.6, filed on 29 March 2022.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. The following title is suggested: “A communication method and apparatus, to effectively manage a multicast/broadcast session of a terminal device in an RRC inactive state, and improve network resource utilization”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential steps, such omission amounting to a gap between the steps. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted steps are: claims 1 and 13 recite: “…first…second…third…ninth…tenth…” message(s) and claims 11 and 19 recite: “…seventh…” message(s). It’s unclear and/or ambiguous as to when the “…fourth…fifth…sixth…eight…” messages are being sent by the terminal device and what each message is being used for, and appear to be essential to the claimed invention disclosed herein. Correction and/or an explanation is required in applicants’ next response. It is hereby noted that different portions of applicants’ specification as filed discuss the “…fourth…fifth…sixth…eight…” messages (see pars [0047] and [0454] for example). Applicants are strongly encouraged to amend claims to at least include the subject matter disclosed therein.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY MEJIA whose telephone number is (571)270-3630. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10:30 AM-6:30 PM EST.
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, CHRISTOPHER PARRY can be reached at (571)272-8328. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANTHONY MEJIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2451
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