CTNF 18/978,782 CTNF 86032 DETAILED ACTION The non-final office action is responsive to the filing of U.S. Patent Application 18/978,782 on 12/12/2024. Claims 1-20 are pending; claims 1-20 are rejected. Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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 06-52 The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/16/2025 was filed before the mailing date of the non-final office action. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-20-02-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication 2020/0275302 A1 to YOUN et al. (hereinafter YOUN) in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication 2019/0239113 A1 to WEI et al. (hereinafter WEI) . As to claim 1, YOUN teaches a method ( a method for a user equipment (UE) to perform reflective quality of service (QoS) in a wireless communication system may include the steps of receiving a downlink packet from a network, wherein the downlink packet is a packet to which the application of the reflective QoS is indicated; deriving a QoS rule based on the downlink packet; applying a QoS marking of the downlink packet to an uplink packet using the QoS rule and transmitting the uplink packet to the network; and restarting a timer associated with the QoS rule when the downlink packet is received before the timer expires , YOUN, Abstract ), comprising: determining, by an application server, a payload is to be sent uplink from a user device to the application server ( A PDU session is established using NAS SM signaling exchanged between a UE and an SMF through N1 (upon UE request), modified (upon UE and 5GC request), and released (upon UE and 5GC request). Upon request from an application server, 5GC may trigger a specific application within a UE. When the UE receives a trigger message, it transfers the corresponding message to an identified application. The identified application may establish a PDU session with a specific DNN , YOUN, [0290]-[0301] ). YOUN does not explicitly disclose sending, by the application server to a wireless communication node, a signal to cause the wireless communication node to trigger a reflective quality of service (QoS) procedure by the user device for transmitting the payload to the application server. WEI discloses sending, by an application server to a wireless communication node, a signal to cause the wireless communication node to trigger a reflective quality of service (QoS) procedure by a user device for transmitting the payload to the application server ( an application server sends a service request including a quality of service requirement (QoS requirement) to a control plane network element (e.g. claimed “a wireless communication node”) , WEI, [0231]-[0262] ). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to trigger RQoS by application server as taught by WEI to modify the method of YOUN so that a reflective QoS mechanism of a fixed network may be introduced into a future 5G communications network, and QoS used by user equipment to transmit uplink data may be consistent with QoS used to transmit downlink data. YOUN-WEI discloses receiving, by the application server, from the user device via the wireless communication node, one or more packets including the payload according to the reflective QoS procedure ( ; applying a QoS marking of the downlink packet to an uplink packet using the QoS rule and transmitting the uplink packet to the network; and restarting a timer associated with the QoS rule when the downlink packet is received before the timer expires , YOUN, Abstract, [0514]-[0550]; WEI, [0231]-[0262] ). As to claim 2, YOUN-WEI discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the signal comprises an internet protocol (IP) packet carrying an indication to trigger the reflective QoS procedure ( WEI, [0231]-[0262] ). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to trigger RQoS by application server as taught by WEI to modify the method of YOUN-WEI so that a reflective QoS mechanism of a fixed network may be introduced into a future 5G communications network, and QoS used by user equipment to transmit uplink data may be consistent with QoS used to transmit downlink data. As to claim 3, YOUN-WEI discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the signal causes the wireless communication node to configure a 5G QoS indicator (5QI) value via a user plane function (UPF) for a downlink channel, to cause the user device to use the 5QI value for transmitting the one or more packets including the payload uplink, according to the reflective QoS procedure ( YOUN, [0514]-[0550] ], [0392]-[0409] , Abstract ). As to claim 4, YOUN-WEI discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more packets comprise one or more second packets, the method further comprising receiving, by the application server from the user device, a first packet according to a first 5G QoS indicator (5QI) value ( YOUN, [0514]-[0550], [0392]-[0409]; WEI, [0231]-[0262] ). As to claim 5, YOUN-WEI discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the application server determines that the payload is to be sent uplink from the user device according to the first packet ( WEI, [0231]-[0262] ). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to trigger RQoS by application server as taught by WEI to modify the method of YOUN-WEI so that a reflective QoS mechanism of a fixed network may be introduced into a future 5G communications network, and QoS used by user equipment to transmit uplink data may be consistent with QoS used to transmit downlink data. As to claim 6, YOUN-WEI discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the first 5QI value is different than a second 5QI value triggered by the wireless communication node according to the reflective QoS procedure and in which the application server receives the one or more second packets ( YOUN, [0514]-[0550]; WEI, [0231]-[0262] ). As to claim 7, YOUN-WEI discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the application server determines that the user device is to send the payload uplink to the application server, according to an application running on the user device and supported by the application server. As to claim 8, YOUN-WEI discloses the method of claim 7, wherein the application supports real-time information transmission from the user device to the application server ( the EPC is the core network of an IP-based mobile communication system for the 3GPP LTE system and capable of supporting packet-based real-time and non-real time services , YOUN, [0088]-[0089] ). As to claim 9, YOUN-WEI discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the signal comprises a binary indicator indicating to trigger the reflective QoS procedure, according to a value of the binary indicator ( an application server sends a service request including a quality of service requirement (QoS requirement) to a control plane network element , WEI, [0231]-[0262] ). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to trigger RQoS by application server as taught by WEI to modify the method of YOUN-WEI so that a reflective QoS mechanism of a fixed network may be introduced into a future 5G communications network, and QoS used by user equipment to transmit uplink data may be consistent with QoS used to transmit downlink data. As to claims 10-20, the same reasoning applies mutatis mutandis to the corresponding system claims 10-18 and non-transitory computer readable medium (hereinafter CRM) claims 19-20 ( Note: YOUN discloses processor and CRM in [0685]-[0686] ). Accordingly, claims 10-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YOUN in view of WEI . Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RUOLEI ZONG whose telephone number is (571)270-7522. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30AM-4:30PM IFP. 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, Vivek Srivastava can be reached at (571)272-7304. 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. /RUOLEI ZONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2449 4/27/2026 Application/Control Number: 18/978,782 Page 2 Art Unit: 2449 Application/Control Number: 18/978,782 Page 3 Art Unit: 2449 Application/Control Number: 18/978,782 Page 4 Art Unit: 2449 Application/Control Number: 18/978,782 Page 5 Art Unit: 2449 Application/Control Number: 18/978,782 Page 6 Art Unit: 2449 Application/Control Number: 18/978,782 Page 7 Art Unit: 2449 Application/Control Number: 18/978,782 Page 8 Art Unit: 2449
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