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 .
1. This action is in response to the application filed on October 1, 2024. Claims 1-30 are pending. Claims 1-30 represent QUALITY OF SERVICE (QOS) DIFFERENTIATION IN USER-PLANE PROCEDURES.
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.
2. Claims 1-13, 15-28 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cakulev U..S. 20200236578 (referred to hereby as Cak) in view of Liu et al. U.S. 20190320362, further in view of Ould-Brahim et al. U.S. 8289964 (referred to hereby as Ould).
Cak teaches substantial feature of the invention including Allocation of Data Radio Bearers for Quality of Service Flows (see abstract).
As to claim 1, Cak teaches a method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE), comprising:
receiving a configuration of at least one quality of service (QoS) profile identifier (QPI) from a network entity, wherein the at least one QPI is associated with a plurality of QoS flows within a data radio bearer (DRB) (abstract).
Cak teaches substantial features of the claimed invention, but fails to explicitly teach each of the plurality of QoS flows is associated with at least one protocol data unit (PDU).
However, Liu teaches Facilitating Quality of Service Flow Remapping Utilizing a service Data Adaptation Protocol Layer. Liu teaches QoS flows is associated with at least one protocol data unit (PDU) (paragraph 9).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the method of Cak to include the teaching of “QOS flow associated with a PDU” of Liu with the motivation being allow mapping reconfiguration indicating that the first SDAP data PDU is a final SDAP data PDU associated with the first QoS flow transmitted on the first DRB (abstract).
Cak and Liu substantial features of the claimed invention, but fails to explicitly teach performing one or more layer 2 (L2) procedures, based on the received configuration.
However, Ould teaches Layer-2 To MPLS Service Mediation Architecture. Ould teaches performing one or more layer 2 (L2) procedures, based on the received configuration (column 7, lines 40-41)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the method of Cak and Liu to include the teaching of “Layer-2 procedures” of Ould with the motivation being to allow providing service mediation in a network having a Layer-2 domain (abstract).
As to claim 2, Cak, lui and Ould teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the configuration further indicates a mapping of one or more of the plurality of QoS flows within the DRB to the at least one QPI (abstract).
As to claim 3, Cak, lui and Ould teaches the method of claim 2, wherein the mapping is performed at a service data adaption protocol (SDAP) layer (paragraph 8).
As to claim 4, Cak, lui and Ould teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the performing further comprises using separate discard timers for different PDUs associated with different QPIs (paragraph 14-15).
As to claim 5, Cak, lui and Ould teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the performing further comprises allowing out of order delivery for different PDUs associated with different QPIs while applying in-order delivery for other PDUs associated with a same QPI (paragraph 14-15).
As to claim 6, Cak, lui and Ould teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the performing further comprises using separate reordering timers for different PDUs associated with different QPIs (paragraph 14-15).
As to claim 7, Cak, lui and Ould teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the performing further comprises allowing different primary paths for different PDUs associated with different QPIs (paragraph 18).
As to claim 8, Cak, lui and Ould teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the performing further comprises applying duplication only on one or more PDUs associated with the at least one QPI (paragraph 14-15)
As to claim 9, Cak, lui and Ould teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the performing further comprises using separate reassembly timers for different PDUs associated with different QPIs (paragraph 14-15).
As to claim 10, Cak, lui and Ould teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the performing further comprises using separate status prohibit timers for different PDUs associated with different QPIs (paragraph 14-15).
As to claim 11, Cak, lui and Ould teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the performing further comprises performing a separate set of prioritized bit rate (PBR), bucket size duration (BSD) and logical channel prioritization (LCP) restrictions for different PDUs associated with different QPIs (paragraph 14-15).
As to claim 12, Cak, lui and Ould teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the configuration corresponds to a first configuration enabling an individual differentiated L2 procedure on top of at least one of default packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) configuration, radio link control (RLC) configuration, or logical channel configuration (paragraph 8).
As to claim 13, Cak, lui and Ould teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the configuration corresponds to a second configuration indicating a separate default packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) configuration, a radio link control (RLC) configuration, or a logical channel configuration for the at least one QPI (paragraph 25).
As to claim 15, Cak, lui and Ould teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the at least one QPI has associated sequence numbers, when an inter-QPI out of order delivery is configured, based on the received configuration (paragraph 8).
Claims 16-28 and 30 did not teach anything different form the above rejected claims, therefore are rejected similarly.
Allowable Subject Matter
3. Claims 14 and 29 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
4. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EL HADJI SALL whose telephone number is (571)272-4010. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00-8:30 (flexible).
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, Ario Etienne can be reached at 5712724001. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/EL HADJI M SALL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2457
Prosecution Insights