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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
As to claim 1, line 7, “eecuted” should be changed to --executed--, to maintain consistency Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 6,7,9,10,14,16-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over “3GPP TS23.280 V16.1.0 (2018-12)” hereinafter “3GPP” and Itoh (2004/0114576).
As to claim 1, 3GPP provides for the framework of the claim however fails to provide the particulars of the “identifying”. See “Introduction” on page 17, where “UE” inherently provides for An electronic device comprising a communication circuitry; memory storing one or more computer programs (claim 18); and one or more processors operatively connected to the communication circuit and the memory to cause the electronic device to perform operations of claim 10:
On page 119, 3GPP provides for
establishing a group call with a mission critical push to talk (MCPTT) server; establishing at least one multimedia broadcast and multicast service (MBMS) subchannel with the MCPTT server; (See Fig 10.7.3.1.2-1).
On pages 121-122, 3GPP provides for
identifying a reception (“1. UE detects that it suffers from bad MBMS bearer condition”) [[delay time of a control message related to an MBMS subchannel received through a general purpose MBMS subchannel (GPMS) in a state where the at least one MBMS subchannel is established]]; and
transmitting a message (“2. MBMS listening status report”) related to switching to a unicast scheme to the MCPTT server when the reception delay time of the control message related to the MBMS subchannel satisfies a predetermined first switching condition. See Fig 10.7.3.3-1 (and 10.7.3.2-1).
3GPP fails to explicitly recite that the “bad condition” is a reception delay time of a control message related to an MBMS subchannel received through a general purpose MBMS subchannel (GPMS) in a state where the at least one MBMS subchannel is established.
In an analogous art, Itoh discloses wherein ([0004]:“a transmission terminal receives values of a packet loss rate, a delay time and the like as feedback information from a reception terminal and controls a transmission rate, thereby controlling the packet loss rate, the delay time and the like to be within a predetermined threshold value”). Before the effective filing date of the instant invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement 3GPP such that a reception delay time of a control message related to an MBMS subchannel received through a general purpose MBMS subchannel (GPMS) in a state where the at least one MBMS subchannel is established, as taught by Itoh, was identified as the “bad condition” for the purpose of accounting for delay time in the packet loss rate.
As to claim 3. The combination of 3GPP and Itoh discloses the electronic device of claim 1, 3GPP discloses wherein the MBMS subchannel comprises a floor control channel and a media channel related to multicast (see Fig 5.2.6-1 and section 5.2.7.1 MBMS bearer management), and wherein the one or more computer programs further include computer- executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to receive data from the MCPTT server through the media channel (see page 20 section 5.2.6 (media content is transmitted via LTE bearers…). See page 127, last paragraph provides for the use of a signaling bearer for floor control messages.
As to claims 7/14, The combination of 3GPP and Itoh discloses the device/method of claim 10, further comprising:
identifying the reception delay time of the control message related to the MBMS subchannel received through the GPMS after the message related to switching to the unicast scheme is transmitted (see Fig 10.7.3.3-1, implies continuous / steady-state processing after message transmission) ; and
transmitting the message related to switching to a multicast scheme to the MCPTT server in case that the reception delay time of the control message related to the MBMS subchannel satisfies a predetermined second switching condition (“2. MBMS listening status report”).
As to claims 9/16. The combination of 3GPP and Itoh discloses the device/method of claim 14, wherein the message related to switching to the multicast scheme comprises a listening status report related to listening (“2. MBMS listening status report”).
As to claims 6/17, The combination of 3GPP and Itoh discloses the device/method of claim 10, wherein the message related to switching to the unicast scheme (“2. MBMS listening status report”), fails to explicitly recite comprises a listening status report related to not-listening. The examiner takes official notice that it was well known prior to the effective filing date to include not-listening data in a listening report in order to convey additional data without needing to approve a new report. Before the effective filing date of the instant invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement 3GPP wherein the message related to switching to the unicast scheme (“2. MBMS listening status report”), comprises a listening status report related to not-listening for the purpose of conveying additional data without needing to approve a new report
Claim(s) 2, 5, 8, 11, 13, 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP and Itoh as applied to claims 1/10 above, and further in view of Chen et al. (2006/0029037) hereinafter “Chen”.
As to claims 2/11. The combination of 3GPP and Itoh discloses the method of claim 10, is silent to yet in an analogous art Chen discloses: in case that a number of times the reception delay time of the control message related to the MBMS subchannel exceeds a predetermined reference delay time continuously exceeds a predetermined first reference number, determining that the predetermined first switching condition is satisfied. See [0026], [0042], etc. wherein the number of times = 1. Before the effective filing date of the instant invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement 3GPP wherein in case that a number of times the reception delay time of the control message related to the MBMS subchannel exceeds a predetermined reference delay time continuously exceeds a predetermined first reference number, determining that the predetermined first switching condition is satisfied, as suggested by Chen for the purpose of improving the data rate [0010].
As to claims 5/13/20. The combination of 3GPP and Itoh discloses the device/method/CRM of claims 1/10/18, is silent to yet in an analogous art Chen discloses: identifying a loss rate of data received through a media channel among the at least one MBMS subchannel for a predetermined second reference time; and transmitting the message related to switching to the unicast scheme to the MCPTT server in case that the loss rate of the data exceeds a predetermined reference loss rate. See [0062]: “In an alternative embodiment, rates of packet loss are used as an alternative metric for detecting congestion caused by the subject stream itself…”, [0067]: “determines whether the difference between the observed packet loss rate and the minimum packet loss rate is greater than the threshold excess packet loss rate…”, etc. Before the effective filing date of the instant invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement 3GPP wherein identifying a loss rate of data received through a media channel among the at least one MBMS subchannel for a predetermined second reference time; and transmitting the message related to switching to the unicast scheme to the MCPTT server in case that the loss rate of the data exceeds a predetermined reference loss rate are performed for the purpose of particularly accounting for packet loss to improve throughput.
As to claim 8/15. The combination of 3GPP and Itoh discloses the method of claim 7/14, is silent to yet in an analogous art Chen discloses: further comprising:
determining that the predetermined second switching condition is satisfied in case that a number of times the reception delay time of the control message related to the MBMS subchannel exceeds a predetermined reference delay time does not continuously exceed a predetermined first reference number. See [0026], [0042], etc. Before the effective filing date of the instant invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement 3GPP and determining that the predetermined second switching condition is satisfied in case that a number of times the reception delay time of the control message related to the MBMS subchannel exceeds a predetermined reference delay time does not continuously exceed a predetermined first reference number as suggested by Chen for the purpose of improving the data rate [0010].
Claim(s) 4, 12, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP and Itoh as applied to claims 1/10 above, and further in view of Sung et al. (2020/0178045) hereinafter “Sung”.
As to claim 4/12/19. The combination of 3GPP and Itoh discloses the device/method/CRM of claim 1/10/18, is silent to yet in an analogous art Sung discloses further comprising:
transmitting a floor request signal through a floor control channel among the at least one MBMS subchannel; and transmitting the message related to switching to the unicast scheme to the MCPTT server in case that a response signal related to the floor request signal is not received for a predetermined first reference time. See [0052]: “In addition, the PTT module 342 may transmit the floor request message, and if there is no response for a designated time, transmit a floor acquisition message…”. Before the effective filing date of the instant invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement 3GPP wherein transmitting a floor request signal through a floor control channel among the at least one MBMS subchannel; and transmitting the message related to switching to the unicast scheme to the MCPTT server in case that a response signal related to the floor request signal is not received for a predetermined first reference time as suggested by Sung for the purpose of using the available tools and accounting for real world losses.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LESTER KINCAID whose telephone number is (571)272-7922. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th: 7-5.
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LESTER G. KINCAID
Primary Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2649
/LESTER G KINCAID/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649
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