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 INTERPRETATION
In claim 69, lines 6-10, the limitation “wherein: the first network node…” is a wherein clause and reflects a purpose of intended use, rather than any distinctive or positively recited step in this method claim. Therefore is not considered a limitation in this method claim and is of no significance to claim construction.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 69 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wang et al. (US 20200351854-A1, previously cited on the notice of references cited form on March 7, 2025, hereinafter Wang).
Wang has taught a method performed by a first network node (Wang: Fig.11, Central unit of anchor node), the method comprising:
obtaining, from a second network node, (Wang: Fig.11) (Wang: [0518-0525] "Step 6b-1: the distributed unit of the anchor node may transmit an address update notification message 6b-1 to the central unit of the anchor node, and the message may include at least one of the following information: the identification information of the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node); the old address information of the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node), such as the IP address and/or port, or the newly defined address information; the specific content of the address information may refer to the above-mentioned description of "the address update message, the address update notification message or the address update request message"; the new address information of the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node), such as the IP address and/or port, or the newly defined address information;") an address request information based on an F1 application protocol (F1AP) message (Wang: [0448] "In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the address update message, the address update notification message, or the address update request message may be an F1 Application Protocol (F1AP) message, or an RRC message, or other messages."); and
transmitting, to the second network node (Wang: Fig.11, Distributed unit of anchor node), a first address information related to at least one IP address or at least one IPsec address of a third network node (Wang: Fig.11, Relay node) in response to the address request information (Wang: [0530] "the central unit of the anchor node may transmit an address update request message 6b-0 to the distributed unit of the anchor node"),
wherein: the first network node and the second network node are connected via an F1 interface in an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network, and the second network node and the third network node are connected via a backhaul link in the IAB network. (as noted above, this wherein clause reflects a purpose of intended use, rather than any distinctive or positively recited step in this method claim, therefore is not considered a limitation in this method claim and is of no significance to claim construction)
(Wang: [0083] "The anchor node may be composed of a central unit of the anchor node (IAB-donor central unit, or IAB-donor-CU) and a distributed unit of the anchor node (IAB-donor distributed unit, or IAB-donor-DU), and the interface between the central unit and the distributed unit may be the F1 interface"; Fig. 1shows that there is an F1 interface between CU and DU of anchor node)
(Wang: [0048], [0083], [0518-0525], [530], Fig 1, Fig 11, relied on for all limitations in the claim above)
Response to Amendment
In view of the amendments and arguments, the rejections to claims 45-46,49-50,52-54,56 and 65-68 are hereby withdrawn.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 45-46,49-50,52-54,56 and 65-68 are allowed.
Claims 70-74 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
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 TONIA LYNN MEONSKE DOLLINGER whose telephone number is (571)272-4170.
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/TONIA L DOLLINGER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2459
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