DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is a response to an application filed on October 5, 2022 wherein claims 45-64 remain pending and ready for examination.
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 statements (IDS) submitted on October 5, 2022 and February 25, 2025 are 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 § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 45, 49, 50, 53, 54, 57-62 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wang et al. (US 20200351854 A1, hereafter Wang).
Regarding claim 45, Wang discloses:
A method performed by a first network node (Wang: Fig.10, Relay node) , the method comprising:
obtaining, from an operations administration and maintenance (OAM) or a second network node (Wang: Fig.10, Central unit of anchor node), a first address information related to at least one Internet Protocol security (IPsec) address (Wang: [0500-0511] “Step 6a-1: the central unit of the anchor node may transmit an address update message 6a-1 (that is, the above-mentioned first address update message) to the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node), and the message may include at least one of the following information: … and the relevant address information used for the establishment of IPSec tunnel;”; [0462] “The information about the address used when establishing the IPSec tunnel, includes at least one of the following information: 1) the address information used by the relay node or the distributed unit side of the relay node when establishing the IPSec tunnel, wherein the address information may be the IP address information, and/or the port information, and/or the prefix length information of the IP address; 2) the address information used by the anchor node or the central unit side of the anchor node when establishing the IPSec tunnel, wherein the address information may be the IP address information, and/or the port information, and/or the information about the prefix length of the IP address.”; The interpretation of “IPsec address” used by examiner will be the IP address used with an IPsec protocol to establish a secure connection between devices.)
generating, based on the first address information, a second address information and transmitting, to the second network node (Wang: [0513] “the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node) may transmit an address update acknowledge message 6a-2 (the above-mentioned first address update acknowledge message) to the central unit of the anchor node, which confirms that the relay node has adopted the new address.”; The acknowledge message is generated based on the received update message and contains information the informs the CU of the use of the new updated address, related to the establishment of the IPsec tunnel.), the second address information based on a radio resource control (RRC) message (Wang: [0539]“Wherein, the messages involved in the above update processes (such as the address update message, the address update acknowledge message, the address update notification message, the address update notification acknowledge message, the address update request message, and the address update request acknowledge message) may be messages of the F1 interface in the prior art, or newly defined message, or non-UE associated message, or UE-associated message, or RRC message”) wherein the first network node and the second network node are connected via a backhaul link in an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network (Wang: [Fig.1] Backhaul link between anchor node and relay node).
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Regarding claim 49, Wang discloses:
The method of claim 45, further comprising:
transmitting, to the second network node, an address request information (Wang: [0514] “the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node) may transmit an address update request message 6a-0 to the central unit of the anchor node”) based on a radio resource control (RRC) message (Wang: [0539]“Wherein, the messages involved in the above update processes (such as the address update message, the address update acknowledge message, the address update notification message, the address update notification acknowledge message, the address update request message, and the address update request acknowledge message) may be messages of the F1 interface in the prior art, or newly defined message, or non-UE associated message, or UE-associated message, or RRC message”) wherein:
the first address information is obtained from the second network node in response to the address request information (Wang: [0515] “the anchor node may transmit the address update message 6a-1 to the relay node or the distributed unit of the relay node, after receiving the address update request message 6a-0 transmitted by the relay node”), the first address information is related to at least one IP address and at least one IPsec address of the first network node (Wang: [0500-0511] “Step 6a-1: the central unit of the anchor node may transmit an address update message 6a-1 (that is, the above-mentioned first address update message) to the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay 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); the new address information of the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node); the newly added address information of the relay node or the DU of the relay node; the address information of the relay node or the DU of the relay node that needs to be deleted or released or removed; … and the relevant address information used for the establishment of IPSec tunnel;”), and
each of the at least one IP address and the at least one IPsec address is assigned by the second network node of the IAB network (Wang: [0500-0511] “Step 6a-1: the central unit of the anchor node may transmit an address update message 6a-1 (that is, the above-mentioned first address update message) to the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay 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 new address information of the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node); the newly added address information of the relay node or the DU of the relay node; … and the relevant address information used for the establishment of IPSec tunnel;”) based on the address request information (Wang: [0515] “the anchor node may transmit the address update message 6a-1 to the relay node or the distributed unit of the relay node, after receiving the address update request message 6a-0 transmitted by the relay node”).
Regarding claim 50, Wang discloses:
The method of claim 45, wherein:
the first address information is related to at least one IPsec address of the second network node (Wang: [0462] “The information about the address used when establishing the IPSec tunnel, includes at least one of the following information: 1) the address information used by the relay node or the distributed unit side of the relay node when establishing the IPSec tunnel, wherein the address information may be the IP address information, and/or the port information, and/or the prefix length information of the IP address; 2) the address information used by the anchor node or the central unit side of the anchor node when establishing the IPSec tunnel, wherein the address information may be the IP address information, and/or the port information, and/or the information about the prefix length of the IP address.”; [0500-0511] “Step 6a-1: the central unit of the anchor node may transmit an address update message 6a-1 (that is, the above-mentioned first address update message) to the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node), and the message may include at least one of the following information: … the old address information of the anchor node (or the central unit of the anchor node or the distributed unit of the anchor node); the new address information of the anchor node (or the central unit of the anchor node or the distributed unit of the anchor node); the newly added address information of the anchor node or the CU of the anchor node; the address information of the anchor node or the CU of the anchor node that needs to be deleted or released or removed; … and the relevant address information used for the establishment of IPSec tunnel;”);
the first network node is an IAB node (Wang: [0082] “As shown in FIG. 1, a multi-hop network or the IAB network may include an anchor node (IAB donor) and two relay nodes (IAB nodes)”);
the second network node is a central unit (CU) of an IAB donor associated with the IAB node (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
the first address information comprises information related to at least one of the following:
at least one IPsec address of the second network node, at least one control plane IPsec address of the second network node, or at least one control plane IP address associated with each control plane IPsec address of the second network node (Wang: [0500-0511] “Step 6a-1: the central unit of the anchor node may transmit an address update message 6a-1 (that is, the above-mentioned first address update message) to the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node), and the message may include at least one of the following information: … the old address information of the anchor node (or the central unit of the anchor node or the distributed unit of the anchor node); the new address information of the anchor node (or the central unit of the anchor node or the distributed unit of the anchor node); the newly added address information of the anchor node or the CU of the anchor node; the address information of the anchor node or the CU of the anchor node that needs to be deleted or released or removed; the address information requested to be deleted or released or removed; and the relevant address information used for the establishment of IPSec tunnel;” [0462] “The information about the address used when establishing the IPSec tunnel, includes at least one of the following information: 1) the address information used by the relay node or the distributed unit side of the relay node when establishing the IPSec tunnel, wherein the address information may be the IP address information, and/or the port information, and/or the prefix length information of the IP address; 2) the address information used by the anchor node or the central unit side of the anchor node when establishing the IPSec tunnel, wherein the address information may be the IP address information, and/or the port information, and/or the information about the prefix length of the IP address.”).
Regarding claim 53, Wang discloses:
A method performed by a first network node (Wang: Fig.11, Central unit of anchor node), the method comprising:
transmitting, to a second network node (Wang: Fig.11, Distributed unit of anchor node), an 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”) based on an F1 application protocol (F1AP) message; and (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.”)
obtaining, from the second network 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) (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;”) in response to the address request information (Wang: [0530] “In this optional scheme, the DU of the anchor node may transmit the address update notification message 6b-1 to the CU of the anchor node, after receiving the address update request message 6b-0 transmitted by the CU 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 (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), and
the first network node and the third network node are connected via a backhaul link in the IAB network (Wang: [Fig.1] Backhaul link between anchor node and relay node).
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Regarding claim 54, Wang discloses:
The method of claim 53, wherein:
the first network node is a central unit (CU) of an IAB donor (Wang: [0083] “The anchor node may be composed of a central unit of the anchor node (IAB-donor central unit, or IAB-donor-CU)”);
the second network node is a distributed unit (DU) of the IAB donor (Wang: [0083] “distributed unit of the anchor node (IAB-donor distributed unit, or IAB-donor-DU)”);
the third network node is an IAB node associated with the IAB donor (Wang: [0082] “As shown in FIG. 1, a multi-hop network or the IAB network may include an anchor node (IAB donor) and two relay nodes (IAB nodes)”);
the first address information is related to at least one IP address of the IAB node (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;”);
the method further comprises transmitting, to the IAB node, a second address information (Wang: [0528] “the CU of the anchor node may transmit the address update message 6b-3 (i.e., the second address update message) to the relay node (the DU of the relay node). For specific content of the other information included in the address update message 6b-3, reference may be made to the foregoing description of the “the first address update message, the address update notification message, or the address update request message”.”; [0500-0511] “Step 6a-1: the central unit of the anchor node may transmit an address update message 6a-1 (that is, the above-mentioned first address update message) to the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay 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); the new address information of the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node); the newly added address information of the relay node or the DU of the relay node; the address information of the relay node or the DU of the relay node that needs to be deleted or released or removed; the old address information of the anchor node (or the central unit of the anchor node or the distributed unit of the anchor node); the new address information of the anchor node (or the central unit of the anchor node or the distributed unit of the anchor node); the newly added address information of the anchor node or the CU of the anchor node; the address information of the anchor node or the CU of the anchor node that needs to be deleted or released or removed; the address information requested to be deleted or released or removed; and the relevant address information used for the establishment of IPSec tunnel;” ) based on a radio resource control (RRC) message (Wang [0448] “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,”); and
the second address information comprises information related to at least one of the following:
at least one IPsec address of the IAB node, at least one IPsec address of the IAB node used for a control plane, at least one IPsec address of the IAB node used for a user plane, at least one IP address of the IAB node, at least one IP address used for the control plane, at least one IP address used for the user plane, or at least one IP address associated with each IPsec address used for the control plane or the user plane.
(Wang: [0500-0511] “Step 6a-1: the central unit of the anchor node may transmit an address update message 6a-1 (that is, the above-mentioned first address update message) to the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay 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); the new address information of the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node); the newly added address information of the relay node or the DU of the relay node; the address information of the relay node or the DU of the relay node that needs to be deleted or released or removed; … the address information requested to be deleted or released or removed; and the relevant address information used for the establishment of IPSec tunnel;”; [0462] “The information about the address used when establishing the IPSec tunnel, includes at least one of the following information: 1) the address information used by the relay node or the distributed unit side of the relay node when establishing the IPSec tunnel, wherein the address information may be the IP address information, and/or the port information, and/or the prefix length information of the IP address; 2) the address information used by the anchor node or the central unit side of the anchor node when establishing the IPSec tunnel, wherein the address information may be the IP address information, and/or the port information, and/or the information about the prefix length of the IP address.”)
Regarding claim 57, Wang discloses:
A method performed by a first network node (Wang: Fig.10, Central unit of anchor node), the method comprising:
transmitting, to a second network node (Wang: Fig.10, Relay node), a first address information related to at least one Internet Protocol security (IPsec) address (Wang: [0500-0511] “Step 6a-1: the central unit of the anchor node may transmit an address update message 6a-1 (that is, the above-mentioned first address update message) to the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay 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); the new address information of the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node); the newly added address information of the relay node or the DU of the relay node; the address information of the relay node or the DU of the relay node that needs to be deleted or released or removed; the old address information of the anchor node (or the central unit of the anchor node or the distributed unit of the anchor node); the new address information of the anchor node (or the central unit of the anchor node or the distributed unit of the anchor node); the newly added address information of the anchor node or the CU of the anchor node; the address information of the anchor node or the CU of the anchor node that needs to be deleted or released or removed; the address information requested to be deleted or released or removed; and the relevant address information used for the establishment of IPSec tunnel;”); and
obtaining, from the second network node based on a radio resource control (RRC) message (Wang: [0539]“Wherein, the messages involved in the above update processes (such as the address update message, the address update acknowledge message, the address update notification message, the address update notification acknowledge message, the address update request message, and the address update request acknowledge message) may be messages of the F1 interface in the prior art, or newly defined message, or non-UE associated message, or UE-associated message, or RRC message”), a second address information generated based on the first address information (Wang: [0513] “the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node) may transmit an address update acknowledge message 6a-2 (the above-mentioned first address update acknowledge message) to the central unit of the anchor node, which confirms that the relay node has adopted the new address.”; The acknowledge message is generated based on the received update message and contains information the informs the CU of the use of the new updated address, related to the establishment of the IPsec tunnel.), wherein the first network node and the second network node are connected via a backhaul link in an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network (Wang: [Fig.1] Backhaul link between anchor node and relay node).
Regarding claim 58, Wang discloses:
The method of claim 57, wherein:
the first address information is related to at least one IPsec address of the first network node (Wang: [0500-0511] “Step 6a-1: the central unit of the anchor node may transmit an address update message 6a-1 (that is, the above-mentioned first address update message) to the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node), and the message may include at least one of the following information: … the old address information of the anchor node (or the central unit of the anchor node or the distributed unit of the anchor node); the new address information of the anchor node (or the central unit of the anchor node or the distributed unit of the anchor node); the newly added address information of the anchor node or the CU of the anchor node; the address information of the anchor node or the CU of the anchor node that needs to be deleted or released or removed; the address information requested to be deleted or released or removed; and the relevant address information used for the establishment of IPSec tunnel;”; [0462] “The information about the address used when establishing the IPSec tunnel, includes at least one of the following information: 1) the address information used by the relay node or the distributed unit side of the relay node when establishing the IPSec tunnel, wherein the address information may be the IP address information, and/or the port information, and/or the prefix length information of the IP address; 2) the address information used by the anchor node or the central unit side of the anchor node when establishing the IPSec tunnel, wherein the address information may be the IP address information, and/or the port information, and/or the information about the prefix length of the IP address.”);
the second network node is an IAB node (Wang: [0082] “As shown in FIG. 1, a multi-hop network or the IAB network may include an anchor node (IAB donor) and two relay nodes (IAB nodes)”); and
the first network node is a central unit (CU) of an IAB donor associated with the IAB node (Wang: [0083] “The anchor node may be composed of a central unit of the anchor node (IAB-donor central unit, or IAB-donor-CU)”).
Regarding claim 59, Wang discloses:
The method of claim 58, wherein the second address information comprises information related to at least one of the following:
at least one IPsec address of the second network node, at least one IPsec address used for a control plane, at least one IPsec address used for a user plane, or
a quantity of at least one IP address associated with each IPsec address used for the control plane or the user plane (Wang: [0513] “the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node) may transmit an address update acknowledge message 6a-2 (the above-mentioned first address update acknowledge message) to the central unit of the anchor node, which confirms that the relay node has adopted the new address.”; The second address information is an indication of the use of the new address in accordance with the information in the first address information (address update message), which may include address information related to the relay node, CU of anchor node, and address information for establishing an IPsec tunnel. Therefore, the first address information my include information related to the IPsec address of the relay node and CU of the anchor node, and the response of an acknowledgement is information that is related to the use of the IPsec address of the relay node).
Regarding claim 60, Wang discloses:
The method of claim 57, further comprising:
obtaining, from the second network node, an address request information (Wang: [0514] “the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node) may transmit an address update request message 6a-0 to the central unit of the anchor node”) based on a radio resource control (RRC) message (Wang: [0539]“Wherein, the messages involved in the above update processes (such as the address update message, the address update acknowledge message, the address update notification message, the address update notification acknowledge message, the address update request message, and the address update request acknowledge message) may be messages of the F1 interface in the prior art, or newly defined message, or non-UE associated message, or UE-associated message, or RRC message”), wherein:
the first address information is transmitted to the second network node in response to the address request information (Wang: [0515] “the anchor node may transmit the address update message 6a-1 to the relay node or the distributed unit of the relay node, after receiving the address update request message 6a-0 transmitted by the relay node”), the first address information is related to at least one IP address and at least one IPsec address of the second network node (Wang: [0500-0511] “Step 6a-1: the central unit of the anchor node may transmit an address update message 6a-1 (that is, the above-mentioned first address update message) to the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay 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); the new address information of the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node); the newly added address information of the relay node or the DU of the relay node; the address information of the relay node or the DU of the relay node that needs to be deleted or released or removed; … and the relevant address information used for the establishment of IPSec tunnel;”), and
each of the at least one IP address and the at least one IPsec address is assigned by the first network node (Wang: [0500-0511] “Step 6a-1: the central unit of the anchor node may transmit an address update message 6a-1 (that is, the above-mentioned first address update message) to the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay 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 new address information of the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node); the newly added address information of the relay node or the DU of the relay node; … and the relevant address information used for the establishment of IPSec tunnel;”) of the IAB network based on the address request information (Wang: [0515] “the anchor node may transmit the address update message 6a-1 to the relay node or the distributed unit of the relay node, after receiving the address update request message 6a-0 transmitted by the relay node”).
Regarding claim 61, Wang discloses:
The method of claim 60, wherein:
the second network node is an IAB node (Wang: [0082] “As shown in FIG. 1, a multi-hop network or the IAB network may include an anchor node (IAB donor) and two relay nodes (IAB nodes)”);
the first network node is a central unit (CU) of an IAB donor associated with the IAB node (Wang: [0083] “The anchor node may be composed of a central unit of the anchor node (IAB-donor central unit, or IAB-donor-CU)”);
the third network node is a distributed unit (DU) of the IAB donor associated with the IAB node (Wang: [0083] “distributed unit of the anchor node (IAB-donor distributed unit, or IAB-donor-DU)”); and
the address request information comprises information related to at least one of the following:
a request for at least one IPsec address,
a request for a number of at least one IPsec address, a request for at least one IPsec address used for a control plane, a request for at least one IPsec address used for a user plane, a request for a number of at least one IPsec address used for a control plane, a request for a number of at least one IPsec address used for a user plane, a request for an IPsec address version, an indication of a number of at least one IP address associated with each IPsec address, an indication of a number of at least one control plane IP address associated with each control plane IPsec address, or
an indication of a number of at least one user plane IP address associated with each user plane IPsec address (Wang; [0514]“request message 6a-0 may include one of the following information: 1) the identification information of the relay node or the DU of the relay node; 2) the indication information of the number of the requested new address information; 3) the address information requested to be deleted or released or removed.”).
Regarding claim 62, Wang discloses:
The method of claim 61, wherein:
the first address information is related to at least one IPsec address of the first network node (Wang: [0500-0511] “Step 6a-1: the central unit of the anchor node may transmit an address update message 6a-1 (that is, the above-mentioned first address update message) to the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node), and the message may include at least one of the following information: … the old address information of the anchor node (or the central unit of the anchor node or the distributed unit of the anchor node); the new address information of the anchor node (or the central unit of the anchor node or the distributed unit of the anchor node); the newly added address information of the anchor node or the CU of the anchor node; the address information of the anchor node or the CU of the anchor node that needs to be deleted or released or removed; the address information requested to be deleted or released or removed; and the relevant address information used for the establishment of IPSec tunnel;”);
the second network node is an IAB node (Wang: [0082] “As shown in FIG. 1, a multi-hop network or the IAB network may include an anchor node (IAB donor) and two relay nodes (IAB nodes)”);
the first network node is a central unit (CU) of an IAB donor associated with the IAB node (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
the first address information comprises information related to at least one of the following:
at least one IPsec address of the first network node, at least one control plane IPsec address of the first network node, or at least one control plane IP address associated with each control plane IPsec address of the first network node (Wang: [0500-0511] “Step 6a-1: the central unit of the anchor node may transmit an address update message 6a-1 (that is, the above-mentioned first address update message) to the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node), and the message may include at least one of the following information: … the old address information of the anchor node (or the central unit of the anchor node or the distributed unit of the anchor node); the new address information of the anchor node (or the central unit of the anchor node or the distributed unit of the anchor node); the newly added address information of the anchor node or the CU of the anchor node; the address information of the anchor node or the CU of the anchor node that needs to be deleted or released or removed; the address information requested to be deleted or released or removed; and the relevant address information used for the establishment of IPSec tunnel;” [0462] “The information about the address used when establishing the IPSec tunnel, includes at least one of the following information: 1) the address information used by the relay node or the distributed unit side of the relay node when establishing the IPSec tunnel, wherein the address information may be the IP address information, and/or the port information, and/or the prefix length information of the IP address; 2) the address information used by the anchor node or the central unit side of the anchor node when establishing the IPSec tunnel, wherein the address information may be the IP address information, and/or the port information, and/or the information about the prefix length of the IP address.”).
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 of this title, 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 46-48 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of 3GPP R3-197126, hereafter R3-197126.
Regarding claim 46, Wang, as shown in the rejection above, discloses the limitations of claim 45:
Wang further discloses:
The first address information is related to at least one Internet Protocol (IP) address and at least one IPsec address of the first network node (Wang: [0500-0511] “Step 6a-1: the central unit of the anchor node may transmit an address update message 6a-1 (that is, the above-mentioned first address update message) to the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node), and the message may include at least one of the following information: … and the relevant address information used for the establishment of IPSec tunnel;”; [0462] “The information about the address used when establishing the IPSec tunnel, includes at least one of the following information: 1) the address information used by the relay node or the distributed unit side of the relay node when establishing the IPSec tunnel, wherein the address information may be the IP address information, and/or the port information, and/or the prefix length information of the IP address; 2) the address information used by the anchor node or the central unit side of the anchor node when establishing the IPSec tunnel, wherein the address information may be the IP address information, and/or the port information, and/or the information about the prefix length of the IP address.”; The interpretation of “IPsec address” used by examiner will be the IP address used with an IPsec protocol to establish a secure connection between devices.); the first network node is an IAB node (Wang: [0082] “As shown in FIG. 1, a multi-hop network or the IAB network may include an anchor node (IAB donor) and two relay nodes (IAB nodes)”); the second network node is a central unit (CU) of an IAB donor associated with the IAB node (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 the second address information comprises information related to at least one of the following:
at least one IPsec address of the first network node, at least one IP address of the first network node, at least one IPsec address used for a control plane, or at least one IPsec address used for the control plane, and at least one IP address used for the control plane and associated with each IPsec address used for the control plane (Wang: [0513] “the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node) may transmit an address update acknowledge message 6a-2 (the above-mentioned first address update acknowledge message) to the central unit of the anchor node, which confirms that the relay node has adopted the new address.”; The second address information is an indication of the use of the new address in accordance with the information in the first address information (address update message), which may include address information related to the relay node, CU of anchor node, and address information for establishing an IPsec tunnel. Therefore, the first address information my include information related to the IPsec address of the relay node and CU of the anchor node, and the response of an acknowledgement is information that is related to the use of the IPsec address of the relay node).
Wang does not disclose the first address information is obtained from the OAM.
However, R3-197126 discloses:
An address information is obtained from an OAM (R3-197126: [Section 1] “IAB node can obtain an IP address via OAM”; The IP address is used with an IPsec protocol in order to establish a secure connection between devices, therefore the IP address is information that is related to the IPsec address).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify method of Wang to further comprise obtaining the address information from an OAM as taught by R3-197126, in order to enables efficient network management, efficient troubleshooting, improved performance optimization, and better network visibility by allowing the OAM to directly identify and manage individual IAB nodes within the network, facilitating targeted actions based on their specific IP addresses.
Regarding claim 47, Wang, as shown in the rejection above, discloses the limitations of claim 45:
Wang further discloses:
The first address information is related to at least one IPsec address of the first network node (Wang: [0500-0511] “Step 6a-1: the central unit of the anchor node may transmit an address update message 6a-1 (that is, the above-mentioned first address update message) to the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node), and the message may include at least one of the following information: … and the relevant address information used for the establishment of IPSec tunnel;”; [0462] “The information about the address used when establishing the IPSec tunnel, includes at least one of the following information: 1) the address information used by the relay node or the distributed unit side of the relay node when establishing the IPSec tunnel, wherein the address information may be the IP address information, and/or the port information, and/or the prefix length information of the IP address; 2) the address information used by the anchor node or the central unit side of the anchor node when establishing the IPSec tunnel, wherein the address information may be the IP address information, and/or the port information, and/or the information about the prefix length of the IP address.”; The interpretation of “IPsec address” used by examiner will be the IP address used with an IPsec protocol to establish a secure connection between devices.); the first network node is an IAB node (Wang: [0082] “As shown in FIG. 1, a multi-hop network or the IAB network may include an anchor node (IAB donor) and two relay nodes (IAB nodes)”); the second network node is a central unit (CU) of an IAB donor associated with the IAB node (Wang: [0083] “The anchor node may be composed of a central unit of the anchor node (IAB-donor central unit, or IAB-donor-CU)”).
Wang does not disclose the first address information is obtained from the OAM.
However, R3-197126 discloses:
An address information is obtained from an OAM (R3-197126: [Section 1] “IAB node can obtain an IP address via OAM”; The IP address is used with an IPsec protocol in order to establish a secure connection between devices, therefore the IP address is information that is related to the IPsec address).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify method of Wang to further comprise obtaining the address information from an OAM as taught by R3-197126, in order to enables efficient network management, efficient troubleshooting, improved performance optimization, and better network visibility by allowing the OAM to directly identify and manage individual IAB nodes within the network, facilitating targeted actions based on their specific IP addresses.
Regarding claim 48, Wang in view of R3-197126, as shown in the rejection above, discloses the limitations of claim 47:
Wang further discloses:
the second address information comprises information related to at least one of the following:
at least one IPsec address of the first network node, at least one IPsec address used for a control plane, at least one IPsec address used for a user plane, or a quantity of at least one IP address associated with each IPsec address used for the control plane or the user plane (Wang: [0513] “the relay node (or the distributed unit of the relay node) may transmit an address update acknowledge message 6a-2 (the above-mentioned first address update acknowledge message) to the central unit of the anchor node, which confirms that the relay node has adopted the new address.”; The second address information is an indication of the use of the new address in accordance with the information in the first address information (address update message), which may include address information related to the relay node, CU of anchor node, and address information for establishing an IPsec tunnel. Therefore, the first address information my include information related to the IPsec address of the relay node and CU of the anchor node, and the response of an acknowledgement is information that is related to the use of the IPsec address of the relay node).
Claims 51 and 63 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Dunbar (US 20210243053 A1).
Regarding claim 51, Wang, as shown in the rejection above, discloses the limitations of claim 50:
Wang does not disclose:
Transmitting, to the second network node, an indication indicating each IPsec operation mode supported by the first network node, wherein the first network node supports one of:
a tunnel mode, a transport mode, or
both the tunnel mode and the transport mode.
However, Dunbar discloses:
transmitting, to a second network node, an indication indicating each IPsec operation mode supported by a first network node, wherein the first network node supports one of:
a tunnel mode, a transport mode, or
both the tunnel mode and the transport mode (Dunbar: [0093] “exchanging IPsec sub-TLVs 900 between peer nodes provides information sufficient to establish a security association to encrypt a corresponding bidirectional communication.”; [0095] “The IPsec sub-TLV 900 also includes a transport field 905 with a length of eight bits. The transport field 905 includes a value to indicate the port supports tunnel mode or transport mode when employing IPsec.”).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify method of Wang to further comprise transmitting an indication of which IPsec operation mode is supported by the first network node as taught by Dunbar, in order to optimize security by allowing the donor to choose the most appropriate security settings for the backhaul link, maximizing security while considering the node's limitations.
Regarding claim 63, Wang, as shown in the rejection above, discloses the limitations of claim 62:
Wang does not disclose:
obtaining, from the second network node, an indication indicating each IPsec operation mode supported by the second network node, wherein the second network node supports one of:
a tunnel mode,
a transport mode, or
both the tunnel mode and the transport mode.
However, Dunbar discloses:
obtaining, from the second network node, an indication indicating each IPsec operation mode supported by the second network node, wherein the second network node supports one of:
a tunnel mode,
a transport mode, or
both the tunnel mode and the transport mode (Dunbar: [0093] “exchanging IPsec sub-TLVs 900 between peer nodes provides information sufficient to establish a security association to encrypt a corresponding bidirectional communication.”; [0095] “The IPsec sub-TLV 900 also includes a transport field 905 with a length of eight bits. The transport field 905 includes a value to indicate the port supports tunnel mode or transport mode when employing IPsec.”).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify method of Wang to further comprise transmitting an indication of which IPsec operation mode is supported by the first network node as taught by Dunbar, in order to optimize security by allowing the donor to choose the most appropriate security settings for the backhaul link, maximizing security while considering the node's limitations.
Claims 52, 56, and 64 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Centonza et al. (US 12225379 B2, hereafter Centonza).
Regarding claim 52, Wang, as shown in the rejection above, discloses the limitations of claim 45:
Wang further discloses:
The first network node is an IAB node (Wang: [0082] “As shown in FIG. 1, a multi-hop network or the IAB network may include an anchor node (IAB donor) and two relay nodes (IAB nodes)”);
the second network node is a central unit (CU) of an IAB donor associated with the IAB node (Wang: [0083] “The anchor node may be composed of a central unit of the anchor node (IAB-donor central unit, or IAB-donor-CU)”).
Wang does not disclose:
A control plane of the CU of the IAB donor sends, via an E1 application protocol (E1AP) interface to a user plane of the CU of the IAB donor, at least one IPsec address used for the user plane, and at least one IP address used for the user plane and associated with each IPsec address used for the user plane.
However, Centonza discloses:
a control plane of the CU sends, via an E1 application protocol (E1AP) interface to a user plane of the CU, at least one IPsec address used for the user plane, and at least one IP address used for the user plane and associated with each IPsec address used for the user plane (Centonza: [Col.9 lines 1-29] “the g