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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/02/2026. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s amendments and arguments, filed 05/05/2026, with respect to the provisional double patenting rejection have been fully considered and are persuasive. The double patenting rejection of claims 1 and 6 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s amendments and arguments, filed 05/05/2026, with respect to the previous 102 and 103 rejections have been fully considered and are persuasive. The previous 102 and 103 rejections of claims 1-15 have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-15 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 4-7, 9-12, 14, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Munoz De La Torre Alonso (“Alonso484”) [PGPUB 2024/0171484] in view MUNOZ DE LA TORRE ALONSO et al. (“Alonso077”) [PGPUB 2025/0168077].
Regarding claim 1, the Alonso484 reference discloses a wireless communication method for use in a session management function [ie. SMF; Alonso484; figures 1 and 7B; paragraphs 15-17 and 0176], the method comprising:
transmitting, to a user plane function, a Quick User Datagram Protocol Internet Connections (QUIC) traffic instruction [ie. data collection; Alonso484; para 0123-0124, 0129-132, 0172, and 0300], and
receiving, from the user plane function, at least one QUIC report associated with QUIC traffic [ie. receiving at NWDF, through SMF; Alonso484; para 0138, 0172, 0290, and 0297-0300],
wherein the QUIC traffic instruction comprises at least one of a QUIC event report instruction indicating at least one event associated with the at least one QUIC report or a QUIC statistic report instruction indicating at least one statistic included in each QUIC report, wherein the at least one event associated with the at least one QUIC report comprises at least one of: a QUIC connection establishment event; a QUIC connection release event; start of a QUIC data block transmission; or stop of a QUIC data block transmission [ie. QUIC flow start/stop time and volume; Alonso484; para 0138, 0290, and 0333].
The Alonso484 reference does not specifically disclose “wherein the at least one statistic included in each OUIC report comprises at least one of: an average size of OUIC data blocks, a maximum size of OUIC data blocks, a minimum size of OUIC data blocks, an average interval between every two consecutive OUIC traffic transmissions, or an analytic duration indicating a period in which OUIC traffic characteristics used for determining each OUIC report are collected”
However, in the same field of endeavor, the Alonso077 reference discloses wherein the at least one statistic included in each OUIC report comprises at least one of: an average size of OUIC data blocks, a maximum size of OUIC data blocks, a minimum size of OUIC data blocks, an average interval between every two consecutive OUIC traffic transmissions, or an analytic duration indicating a period in which OUIC traffic characteristics used for determining each OUIC report are collected [ie. duration (“analytic duration indicating a period”); Alonso; para 0028-0031, 0140-0149, and 0325-0327]. The Alonso484 and Alonso077 references are analogous art, since they have similar problem solving area in being able to manage traffic congestion analytics. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of analytic duration, taught by Alonso077, into the system, taught by Alonso484. The motivation for doing so would have been increase the amount of data for analyzing and optimizing data traffic.
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Alonso484-Alonso077 further discloses the at least one event associated with the at least one QUIC report comprises at least one of: an event associated with a QUIC traffic detection [Alonso484; para 0138, 0290, and 0333] [Alonso; para 0327].
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Alonso484-Alonso077 further discloses each QUIC report comprises at least one of: at least one QUIC traffic parameter of the QUIC traffic, the at least one QUIC report event associated with the QUIC report, or the at least one statistic of the QUIC traffic associated with the QUIC report [Alonso484; para 0138, 0290, and 0333] [Alonso; para 0140-0149 and 0325-0327].
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Alonso484-Alonso077 further discloses the at least one QUIC traffic parameter comprises at least one of: a QUIC protocol indication associated with the QUIC traffic, an internet protocol (IP) address of a wireless terminal associated with the QUIC traffic and a User datagram Protocol (UDP) port associated with the wireless terminal, an IP address of a remote server associated with the QUIC traffic and a UDP port associated with the remote server, at least one QUIC connection identifier of the QUIC traffic, a QUIC version of the QUIC traffic, or a packet number of the QUIC traffic [Alonso484; para 0138] [Alonso; para 0102, 0140-0149 and 0325-0327].
Regarding claim 6, the Alonso484 reference discloses a wireless communication method for use in a user plane function [ie. UPF; Alonso484; figures 1 and 7B; paragraphs 15-17 and 0176], the method comprising:
receiving, from a session management function, a Quick User Datagram Protocol Internet Connections (QUIC) traffic instruction [ie. data collection; Alonso484; para 0123-0124, 0129-132, 0172, and 0300], and
transmitting, to the session management function, at least one QUIC report associated with QUIC traffic [ie. transmitting to NWDF, through SMF; Alonso484; para 0138, 0172, 0290, and 0297-0300],
wherein the QUIC traffic instruction comprises at least one of a QUIC event report instruction indicating at least one event associated with the at least one QUIC report or a QUIC statistic report instruction indicating at least one statistic included in each QUIC report, wherein the at least one event associated with the at least one OUIC report comprises at least one of: a OUIC connection establishment event; a OUIC connection release event; start of a OUIC data block transmission; or stop of a OUIC data block transmission [ie. QUIC flow start/stop time and volume; Alonso484; para 0138, 0290, and 0333].
The Alonso484 reference does not specifically disclose “wherein the at least one statistic included in each OUIC report comprises at least one of: an average size of OUIC data blocks, a maximum size of OUIC data blocks, a minimum size of OUIC data blocks, an average interval between every two consecutive OUIC traffic transmissions, or an analytic duration indicating a period in which OUIC traffic characteristics used for determining each OUIC report are collected”
However, in the same field of endeavor, the Alonso077 reference discloses wherein the at least one statistic included in each OUIC report comprises at least one of: an average size of OUIC data blocks, a maximum size of OUIC data blocks, a minimum size of OUIC data blocks, an average interval between every two consecutive OUIC traffic transmissions, or an analytic duration indicating a period in which OUIC traffic characteristics used for determining each OUIC report are collected [ie. duration (“analytic duration indicating a period”); Alonso; para 0028-0031, 0140-0149, and 0325-0327]. The Alonso484 and Alonso077 references are analogous art, since they have similar problem solving area in being able to manage traffic congestion analytics. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of analytic duration, taught by Alonso077, into the system, taught by Alonso484. The motivation for doing so would have been increase the amount of data for analyzing and optimizing data traffic.
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Alonso484-Alonso077 further discloses wherein the at least one event associated with the at least one QUIC report comprises at least one of: an event associated with a QUIC traffic detection [Alonso484; para 0138, 0290, and 0333] [Alonso; para 0327].
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Alonso484-Alonso077 further discloses wherein each QUIC report comprises at least one of: at least one QUIC traffic parameter of the QUIC traffic, the at least one QUIC report event associated with the QUIC report, or the at least one statistic of the QUIC traffic associated with the QUIC report [Alonso484; para 0138, 0290, and 0333] [Alonso; para 0140-0149 and 0325-0327].
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Alonso484-Alonso077 further discloses wherein the at least one QUIC traffic parameter comprises at least one of: a QUIC protocol indication associated with the QUIC traffic, an internet protocol, IP, address of a wireless terminal associated with the QUIC traffic and a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port associated with the wireless terminal, an IP address of a remote server associated with the QUIC traffic and a UDP port associated with the remote server, at least one QUIC connection identifier of the QUIC traffic, a QUIC version of the QUIC traffic, or a packet number of the QUIC traffic [Alonso484; para 0138] [Alonso; para 0102, 0140-0149 and 0325-0327].
Regarding claims 11, 12, 14, and 15, the apparatus of claims 11, 12, 14, and 15 perform the similar steps as the method of claims 1, 2, 4, and 5. The combination of Alonso484-Alonso077 teaches the method of claims 1, 2, 4, and 5, as referenced above. The additional limitations of a “transceiver” and a “processor” are rejected with the citation of paragraphs 0499-0501 of Alonso484. Therefore, claims 11, 12, 14, and 15 are rejected using the same art and rationale set forth above in the rejection of claims 1, 2, 4, and 5, by the teachings of Alonso484-Alonso077.
Claims 3, 8, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Alonso484-Alonso077 as applied to claims 1, 6, and 11 above, and further in view of Yeh et al. (“Yeh”) [PGPUB 2022/0014963].
Regarding claims 3, 8, and 13, the combination of Alonso484-Alonso077 does not specifically disclose an additional one statistic included in each QUIC report comprises at least one of: an average delay of QUIC traffic transmissions, a maximum delay of QUIC traffic transmissions, a minimum delay of QUIC traffic transmissions.
However, in the same field of endeavor, the Yeh reference discloses statistic included in each QUIC report comprises at least one of: an average delay of QUIC traffic transmissions, a maximum delay of QUIC traffic transmissions, a minimum delay of QUIC traffic transmissions [ie. average delay of QUIC traffic; Yeh; para 0031, 0066, 0069, and 0074]. The Alonso484-Alonso077 and Yeh references are analogous art, since they have similar problem solving area in being able to manage traffic congestion. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of another statistic, taught by Yeh, into the system, taught by Alonso484-Alonso0077. The motivation for doing so would have been able to manage multiple access traffic to meet diverse QoS [Yeh; para 0003].
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 JASON D CARDONE whose telephone number is (571)272-3933. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri. 8am-4pmEST.
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/JASON D CARDONE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2458
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