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 03/16/2026, 06/02/2026, and 07/16/2026 was filed after the mailing date of the amendment on 05/28/2026. 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 Amendment
The amendment filed 05/28/2026 has been entered. Claims 6, 36, and 41 have been amended.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 6, 36, and 41 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
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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 6-12, 36-38, and 41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being anticipated by Zhu et al. (US 2023/0180090), hereinafter Zhu in further view of Rajadurai (US 2021/0105622), hereinafter Rajadurai.
Regarding Claim 6, Zhu teaches: A method for wireless communication, comprising sending, by a new integrated access backhaul-donor-central unit (IAB-donor-CU) to an initial IAB-donor-CU, a request for retrieving user equipment (UE) context for recovering an IAB-node from the initial IAB-donor-CU to the new IAB-donor-CU: “the second donor network device determines, based on the PCI identifier in the received RRC re-establishment request message, the first donor network device to which the parent IAB node previously sets up a connection, and sends the request message to the first donor network device, to request to obtain the topology relationship between the parent IAB node and the descendent node of the parent IAB node. Optionally, the request message sent by the second donor network device may alternatively be for requesting to obtain context information related to the parent IAB node, and the context information may include the foregoing topology relationship” (Zhu ¶ 0227) and “the parent IAB node or a descendent IAB node in this embodiment of this application may be connected to a new donor network device (which may be specifically a CU part or a CU-CP part of the donor network device)” (Zhu ¶ 0245); and receiving, by the new IAB-donor-CU from the initial IAB-donor-CU, a response for retrieving UE context: “S1403: The first donor network device sends a response message to the second donor network device, where the response message includes the topology relationship between the parent IAB node that performs recovery and the descendent node of the parent IAB node” (Zhu ¶ 0228).
Zhu does not teach: the response for retrieving UE context comprises an IAB authorized information element (IE), the new IAB-donor-CU considers the request for an IAB-node, wherein the IAB authorized IE provides information about an authorization status of the IAB-node; and, in response to the response for retrieving UE context comprising the IAB authorized IE, storing, by the new IAB-donor-CU, received IAB authorization information in the UE context.
Regarding Claim 6, Rajadurai teaches: the response for retrieving UE context comprises an IAB authorized information element (IE), the new IAB-donor-CU considers the request for an IAB-node: “In both cases, the IAB-node (200) requests the at least one IP address via RRC from the IAB-donor-CU (150). IAB-node (200) includes a separate IP address request for each usage, where the usages defined are all traffic, F1-U, F1-C and non-F1. The IAB-donor-CU (150) may initiate the IAB Transport Network Layer (TNL) Address Allocation procedure to obtain IP addresses from the IAB-donor-DU (160). The IAB-donor-CU (150) sends the IP addresses allocated for each usage to the IAB-node (200) via RRC” (Rajadurai ¶ 0076), wherein the IAB authorized IE provides information about an authorization status of the IAB-node: “There is need of a unique parameter stored during Phase-1 and/or Phase-2 procedure, so that during the Phase-3 (IAB-DU part setup), the IAB Node context (UE context) is identified to perform authentication and/or to determine whether the IAB node is “authorized” or “not authorized”. Thus, a system and method are required to identify the established UE context and to check whether the IAB node is authorized (for example, “IAB Authorized”) and/or to generate the security credentials/parameters required to perform authentication procedure to establish the F1* interface” (Rajadurai ¶ 0043); and, in response to the response for retrieving UE context comprising the IAB authorized IE, storing, by the new IAB-donor-CU, received IAB authorization information in the UE context: “an IAB node acting as a user equipment (UE) with MT functionalities, performs the authentication, authorization, and establish an access stratum (AS) security context with an IAB-donor node. During the above procedure (i.e. IAB-MT setup), the IAB-donor node obtains the IAB authorization information of the IAB node from an AMF/MME (for example, as part of Initial Context Setup procedure (i.e. INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message)) and stores the authorization information of the IAB node along with the IAB node's context (i.e. UE context)” (Rajadurai ¶ 0041).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Barac with Rajadurai for the purpose of providing IoT networks the ability to access 5G capabilities. According to Rajadurai: “various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as a sensor network, MTC, and M2M communication may be implemented by beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud RAN as the above-described big data processing technology may also be considered to be as an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology” (Rajadurai ¶ 0005).
Regarding Claim 7, Zhu teaches: The method according to claim 6.
Zhu does not teach: the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of the following IEs: a message type, a new NG-RAN node UE Xn application protocol (XnAP) identifier (ID) reference, an old NG-RAN node UE XnAP ID reference, a globally unique access and mobility management function (AMF) ID (GUAMI), or UE context information.
Regarding Claim 7, Rajadurai teaches: the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of the following IEs: a message type, a new NG-RAN node UE XnAP ID reference, an old NG-RAN node UE XnAP ID reference, a globally unique access and mobility management function (AMF) ID (GUAMI), or UE context information: “There is need of a unique parameter stored during Phase-1 and/or Phase-2 procedure, so that during the Phase-3 (IAB-DU part setup), the IAB Node context (UE context) is identified to perform authentication and/or to determine whether the IAB node is “authorized” or “not authorized”. Thus, a system and method are required to identify the established UE context and to check whether the IAB node is authorized (for example, “IAB Authorized”) and/or to generate the security credentials/parameters required to perform authentication procedure to establish the F1* interface” (Rajadurai ¶ 0043).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhu with Rajadurai for the purpose of providing IoT networks the ability to access 5G capabilities. According to Rajadurai: “various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as a sensor network, MTC, and M2M communication may be implemented by beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud RAN as the above-described big data processing technology may also be considered to be as an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology” (Rajadurai ¶ 0005).
Regarding Claim 8, Zhu teaches: The method according to claim 6.
Zhu does not teach: the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of the following information of an IAB-node identified by a UE context ID: IAB authorized information, an IAB-MT context, an IAB-DU context, backhaul and topology-related information, or IP address information.
Regarding Claim 8, Rajadurai teaches: the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of the following information of an IAB-node identified by a UE context ID: an IAB-MT context, an IAB-DU context, backhaul and topology-related information, or IP address information: “The method comprises obtaining, by an IAB-donor node, an IAB authorization information of the IAB node from one of an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) and a Mobility Management Entity (MME) of the wireless network, determining, by the IAB-donor node, that the IAB authorization information of the IAB node indicates the IAB node is authorized, allocating, by the IAB-donor node, at least one Internet Protocol (IP) address to a Distributed Unit (DU) of the IAB node in response to a receive request from the IAB node” (Rajadurai ¶ 0006).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhu with Rajadurai for the purpose of providing IoT networks the ability to access 5G capabilities. According to Rajadurai: “various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as a sensor network, MTC, and M2M communication may be implemented by beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud RAN as the above-described big data processing technology may also be considered to be as an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology” (Rajadurai ¶ 0005).
Regarding Claim 9, Zhu teaches: The method according to claim 8.
Barac does not teach: the IAB-MT context indicates stored context information of the IAB-MT in the initial IAB-donor-CU; the IAB-DU context indicates stored context information of the IAB-DU in the initial IAB-donor-CU; the backhaul and topology-related information comprises one of the following: BH information, a BH RLC channel list, a BAP mapping configuration comprising at least one of the following: a BH routing information list, traffic mapping information, IP to layer2 traffic mapping information, or BAP layer BH RLC channel mapping information; a gNB-DU resource configuration comprising at least one of the following: an activated cells to be updated list, a child-node list, or a child-node cells list, or an identity of a parent IAB node; and the IP address information indicates at least one IP address used by the IAB-node.
Regarding Claim 9, Rajadurai teaches: the IAB-MT context indicates stored context information of the IAB-MT in the initial IAB-donor-CU; the IAB-DU context indicates stored context information of the IAB-DU in the initial IAB-donor-CU: “the IAB-donor node (100) may checks whether the stored IAB Authorized information is “authorized” in the context of the IAB node (200) (i.e. UE context)” (Rajadurai ¶ 0104); the backhaul and topology-related information comprises one of the following: BH information, a BH RLC channel list, a BAP mapping configuration comprising at least one of the following: a BH routing information list, traffic mapping information, IP to layer2 traffic mapping information, or BAP layer BH RLC channel mapping information: “using the IAB-node DU IP address to identify the 3GPP AS security context for DU setup security procedures (authentication and/or authorization) will be efficient. Further, an authentication mechanism over the IKEv2 to establish IPsec tunnels is performed for protection of F1 traffic at IP layer, using the IP address of the DU a IP layer parameter to identify the security context is more justified rather using other parameters like BAP address” (Rajadurai ¶ 0045); a gNB-DU resource configuration comprising at least one of the following: an activated cells to be updated list, a child-node list, or a child-node cells list, or an identity of a parent IAB node; and the IP address information indicates at least one IP address used by the IAB-node: “The IAB-node (200a-200e) terminates an IP transport and is reachable from an operator's transport network via the DU part of the IAB-donor node (100). The IAB node (200a-200e) and the CU (i.e. CU-CP and CU-UP) of the donor gNB communicate with each other using IP as for CU/DU transport connections on wire line networks. In the downlink, the IAB-donor-DU performs mapping of IP packets destined for the IAB node (200a-200e) to southbound NR backhaul RLC-channels, while in the uplink the IAB node (200a-200e) performs mapping of IP packets destined for the operator transport network to northbound RLC-channels” (Rajadurai ¶ 0049).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhu with Rajadurai for the purpose of providing IoT networks the ability to access 5G capabilities. According to Rajadurai: “various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as a sensor network, MTC, and M2M communication may be implemented by beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud RAN as the above-described big data processing technology may also be considered to be as an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology” (Rajadurai ¶ 0005).
Regarding Claim 10, Zhu teaches: The method according to claim 9.
Zhu does not teach: the IAB-MT context comprises at least one of the following: a NG-C UE associated signaling reference, a signaling transport network layer (TNL) association address at source NG-C side, UE security capabilities, AS security information, a UE aggregate maximum bit rate, a protocol data unit (PDU) session resources to be setup list, a radio resource control (RRC) context, a backhaul adaptation protocol (BAP) address, or at least one IP address of the IAB-MT.
Regarding Claim 10, Rajadurai teaches: the IAB-MT context comprises at least one of the following: a NG-C UE associated signaling reference, a signaling transport network layer (TNL) association address at source NG-C side, UE security capabilities, AS security information, a UE aggregate maximum bit rate, a protocol data unit (PDU) session resources to be setup list, a radio resource control (RRC) context, a backhaul adaptation protocol (BAP) address, or at least one IP address of the IAB-MT: “using the IAB-node DU IP address to identify the 3GPP AS security context for DU setup security procedures (authentication and/or authorization) will be efficient. Further, an authentication mechanism over the IKEv2 to establish IPsec tunnels is performed for protection of F1 traffic at IP layer, using the IP address of the DU a IP layer parameter to identify the security context is more justified rather using other parameters like BAP address” (Rajadurai ¶ 0045) and “the part of the IAB node (200a-200e) that supports a Uu interface towards the IAB-donor node (100) or another parent IAB node is referred to as an IAB-UE (or IAB-MT). The backhaul connectivity of the IAB node (200b and 200d) or the IAB-donor node (100) or another parent IAB node (e.g. 200b is parent IAB node for 200d IAB node) with a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) is managed through the Uu interface” (Rajadurai ¶ 0050).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhu with Rajadurai for the purpose of providing IoT networks the ability to access 5G capabilities. According to Rajadurai: “various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as a sensor network, MTC, and M2M communication may be implemented by beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud RAN as the above-described big data processing technology may also be considered to be as an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology” (Rajadurai ¶ 0005).
Regarding Claim 11, Zhu teaches: The method according to claim 9.
Zhu does not teach: the IAB-DU context comprises at least one of the following: a F1 interface context indicating application level data needed for the IAB-DU and the IAB-donor-CU to correctly interoperate on the F1 interface, a F1 application protocol (F1AP) UE context in the IAB-DU for each UE of the IAB-DU, a BAP address of the IAB-DU, or at least one IP address of the IAB-DU.
Regarding Claim 11, Rajadurai teaches: the IAB-DU context comprises at least one of the following: a F1 interface context indicating application level data needed for the IAB-DU and the IAB-donor-CU to correctly interoperate on the F1 interface, a F1 application protocol (F1AP) UE context in the IAB-DU for each UE of the IAB-DU, a BAP address of the IAB-DU, or at least one IP address of the IAB-DU: “an authentication mechanism (using dynamic Pre-shared Key (PSK)) over an Internet Key Exchange (IKEv2) to establish Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) tunnels requires identification of the AS security context established by the IAB-UE, to generate a dynamic PSK and use it to perform authentication to establish the IPsec Security Associations (SA) for the F1 interface. To identify the established IAB-node's context (UE context) by the IAB-donor, to perform authorization and/or authentication of the IAB-node, during the IAB-DU part setup, the IP address assigned during the phase-2 is used to identify the UE context and to establishment the security association for the F1 interface” (Rajadurai ¶ 0043).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhu with Rajadurai for the purpose of providing IoT networks the ability to access 5G capabilities. According to Rajadurai: “various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as a sensor network, MTC, and M2M communication may be implemented by beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud RAN as the above-described big data processing technology may also be considered to be as an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology” (Rajadurai ¶ 0005).
Regarding Claim 12, Zhu teaches: The method according to claim 11.
Zhu does not teach: the F1 interface context comprises at least one of the following information: a gNB-DU ID, a gNB-DU name, a gNB-DU served cells list, an activated cells list of the IAB-DU, a deactivated cells list of the IAB-DU, a cells status list of the IAB-DU, a barred cells list, a gNB-DU RRC version, a gNB-CU RRC version, a transport layer address information at a gNB-DU, a transport layer address information at a gNB-CU, a BAP address assigned to the IAB-node, a BAP address assigned to an initial IAB-donor-DU, or a uplink backhaul (BH) non-user plane (non-UP) traffic mapping.
Regarding Claim 12, Rajadurai teaches: the F1 interface context comprises at least one of the following information: a gNB-DU ID, a gNB-DU name, a gNB-DU served cells list, an activated cells list of the IAB-DU, a deactivated cells list of the IAB-DU, a cells status list of the IAB-DU, a barred cells list, a gNB-DU RRC version, a gNB-CU RRC version, a transport layer address information at a gNB-DU, a transport layer address information at a gNB-CU, a BAP address assigned to the IAB-node, a BAP address assigned to an initial IAB-donor-DU, or a uplink backhaul (BH) non-user plane (non-UP) traffic mapping: “a routing update procedure where a Backhaul Adaptation Protocol (BAP) layer is updated to support routing between the new IAB-node-2 (200d) and the IAB-donor-DU. This includes configuration of a BAP routing identifier for routing in a downstream direction on the IAB-donor-DU and the BAP route identifier in an upstream direction on MT functionality of the IAB-node-2 (200d). The routing tables are updated for all ancestor IAB-nodes (e.g. IAB-node 1 (200b)) and the IAB-donor-DU with routing entries for a new BAP routing identifier” (Rajadurai ¶ 054) and “as part of the Phase-3 procedure, IAB-DU (250) setup, the IAB node (200) (DU functionality of the IAB node) initiates the F1* connection (for example, F1*-C) with the CU (150) of the IAB-donor node (100), by sending the F1 setup message to the IAB-donor node (100). The IAB node (200) includes the assigned/informed IP address (for example, as part of (outer) IP header (source IP address of the IAB-DU (for F1-C usage)) of the request message) with the F1 setup message to the IAB-donor node (100) (i.e. IAB-donor-CU (150))” (Rajadurai ¶ 0079).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhu with Rajadurai for the purpose of providing IoT networks the ability to access 5G capabilities. According to Rajadurai: “various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as a sensor network, MTC, and M2M communication may be implemented by beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud RAN as the above-described big data processing technology may also be considered to be as an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology” (Rajadurai ¶ 0005).
Regarding Claim 36, Zhu teaches: An apparatus comprising: a memory storing instructions; and a processor in communication with the memory, wherein, when the processor executes the instructions, the processor is configured to cause the apparatus to perform: “The communication apparatus 2200 may include one or more memories 2202. The memory 2202 stores a program 2204, and the program 2204 may be run by the processor 2201 to generate instructions 2203, so that the processor 2201 performs, according to the instructions 2203, the methods described in the foregoing method embodiments. Optionally, the memory 2202 may further store data. Optionally, the processor 2201 may further read the data stored in the memory 2202” (Zhu ¶ 0326): sending, by a new integrated access backhaul-donor-central unit (IAB-donor-CU) to an initial IAB-donor-CU, a request for retrieving user equipment (UE) context for recovering an IAB-node from the initial IAB-donor-CU to the new IAB-donor-CU: “the second donor network device determines, based on the PCI identifier in the received RRC re-establishment request message, the first donor network device to which the parent IAB node previously sets up a connection, and sends the request message to the first donor network device, to request to obtain the topology relationship between the parent IAB node and the descendent node of the parent IAB node. Optionally, the request message sent by the second donor network device may alternatively be for requesting to obtain context information related to the parent IAB node, and the context information may include the foregoing topology relationship” (Zhu ¶ 0227) and “the parent IAB node or a descendent IAB node in this embodiment of this application may be connected to a new donor network device (which may be specifically a CU part or a CU-CP part of the donor network device)” (Zhu ¶ 0245); and receiving, by the new IAB-donor-CU from the initial IAB-donor-CU, a response for retrieving UE context: “S1403: The first donor network device sends a response message to the second donor network device, where the response message includes the topology relationship between the parent IAB node that performs recovery and the descendent node of the parent IAB node” (Zhu ¶ 0228).
Zhu does not teach: the response for retrieving UE context comprises an IAB authorized information element (IE), the new IAB-donor-CU considers the request for an IAB-node, wherein the IAB authorized IE provides information about an authorization status of the IAB-node; and, in response to the response for retrieving UE context comprising the IAB authorized IE, storing, by the new IAB-donor-CU, received IAB authorization information in the UE context.
Regarding Claim 36, Rajadurai teaches: the response for retrieving UE context comprises an IAB authorized information element (IE), the new IAB-donor-CU considers the request for an IAB-node: “In both cases, the IAB-node (200) requests the at least one IP address via RRC from the IAB-donor-CU (150). IAB-node (200) includes a separate IP address request for each usage, where the usages defined are all traffic, F1-U, F1-C and non-F1. The IAB-donor-CU (150) may initiate the IAB Transport Network Layer (TNL) Address Allocation procedure to obtain IP addresses from the IAB-donor-DU (160). The IAB-donor-CU (150) sends the IP addresses allocated for each usage to the IAB-node (200) via RRC” (Rajadurai ¶ 0076), wherein the IAB authorized IE provides information about an authorization status of the IAB-node: “There is need of a unique parameter stored during Phase-1 and/or Phase-2 procedure, so that during the Phase-3 (IAB-DU part setup), the IAB Node context (UE context) is identified to perform authentication and/or to determine whether the IAB node is “authorized” or “not authorized”. Thus, a system and method are required to identify the established UE context and to check whether the IAB node is authorized (for example, “IAB Authorized”) and/or to generate the security credentials/parameters required to perform authentication procedure to establish the F1* interface” (Rajadurai ¶ 0043); and, in response to the response for retrieving UE context comprising the IAB authorized IE, storing, by the new IAB-donor-CU, received IAB authorization information in the UE context: “an IAB node acting as a user equipment (UE) with MT functionalities, performs the authentication, authorization, and establish an access stratum (AS) security context with an IAB-donor node. During the above procedure (i.e. IAB-MT setup), the IAB-donor node obtains the IAB authorization information of the IAB node from an AMF/MME (for example, as part of Initial Context Setup procedure (i.e. INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message)) and stores the authorization information of the IAB node along with the IAB node's context (i.e. UE context)” (Rajadurai ¶ 0041).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhu with Rajadurai for the purpose of providing IoT networks the ability to access 5G capabilities. According to Rajadurai: “various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as a sensor network, MTC, and M2M communication may be implemented by beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud RAN as the above-described big data processing technology may also be considered to be as an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology” (Rajadurai ¶ 0005).
Regarding Claim 37, Zhu teaches: The apparatus according to claim 36.
Zhu does not teach: the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of the following IEs: a message type, a new NG-RAN node UE XnAP ID reference, an old NG-RAN node UE XnAP ID reference, a globally unique access and mobility management function (AMF) ID (GUAMI), or UE context information.
Regarding Claim 37, Rajadurai teaches: : the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of the following IEs: a message type, a new NG-RAN node UE XnAP ID reference, an old NG-RAN node UE XnAP ID reference, a globally unique access and mobility management function (AMF) ID (GUAMI), or UE context information: “There is need of a unique parameter stored during Phase-1 and/or Phase-2 procedure, so that during the Phase-3 (IAB-DU part setup), the IAB Node context (UE context) is identified to perform authentication and/or to determine whether the IAB node is “authorized” or “not authorized”. Thus, a system and method are required to identify the established UE context and to check whether the IAB node is authorized (for example, “IAB Authorized”) and/or to generate the security credentials/parameters required to perform authentication procedure to establish the F1* interface” (Rajadurai ¶ 0043).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhu with Rajadurai for the purpose of providing IoT networks the ability to access 5G capabilities. According to Rajadurai: “various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as a sensor network, MTC, and M2M communication may be implemented by beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud RAN as the above-described big data processing technology may also be considered to be as an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology” (Rajadurai ¶ 0005).
Regarding Claim 38, Zhu teaches: The apparatus according to claim 36.
Zhu does not teach: the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of the following information of an IAB-node identified by a UE context ID: an IAB-MT context, an IAB-DU context, backhaul and topology-related information, or IP address information.
Regarding Claim 38, Rajadurai teaches: the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of the following information of an IAB-node identified by a UE context ID: an IAB-MT context, an IAB-DU context, backhaul and topology-related information, or IP address information: “The method comprises obtaining, by an IAB-donor node, an IAB authorization information of the IAB node from one of an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) and a Mobility Management Entity (MME) of the wireless network, determining, by the IAB-donor node, that the IAB authorization information of the IAB node indicates the IAB node is authorized, allocating, by the IAB-donor node, at least one Internet Protocol (IP) address to a Distributed Unit (DU) of the IAB node in response to a receive request from the IAB node” (Rajadurai ¶ 0006).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhu with Rajadurai for the purpose of providing IoT networks the ability to access 5G capabilities. According to Rajadurai: “various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as a sensor network, MTC, and M2M communication may be implemented by beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud RAN as the above-described big data processing technology may also be considered to be as an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology” (Rajadurai ¶ 0005).
Regarding Claim 41, Zhu teaches: A computer program product comprising a computer-readable program medium storing instructions, wherein, the instructions, when executed by a processor, are configured to cause the processor to perform: “a source radio network node 140 for handling communication in a wireless communications network, wherein the source radio network node 140 comprises processing circuitry 601 and a memory 605, said memory 605 comprising instructions executable by said processing circuitry 601 whereby said source radio network node 140 is operative to perform any of the methods herein” (Barac ¶ 0093): sending, by a new integrated access backhaul-donor-central unit (IAB-donor-CU) to an initial IAB-donor-CU, a request for retrieving user equipment (UE) context for recovering an IAB-node from the initial IAB-donor-CU to the new IAB-donor-CU: “the second donor network device determines, based on the PCI identifier in the received RRC re-establishment request message, the first donor network device to which the parent IAB node previously sets up a connection, and sends the request message to the first donor network device, to request to obtain the topology relationship between the parent IAB node and the descendent node of the parent IAB node. Optionally, the request message sent by the second donor network device may alternatively be for requesting to obtain context information related to the parent IAB node, and the context information may include the foregoing topology relationship” (Zhu ¶ 0227) and “the parent IAB node or a descendent IAB node in this embodiment of this application may be connected to a new donor network device (which may be specifically a CU part or a CU-CP part of the donor network device)” (Zhu ¶ 0245); and receiving, by the new IAB-donor-CU from the initial IAB-donor-CU, a response for retrieving UE context: “S1403: The first donor network device sends a response message to the second donor network device, where the response message includes the topology relationship between the parent IAB node that performs recovery and the descendent node of the parent IAB node” (Zhu ¶ 0228).
Zhu does not teach: the response for retrieving UE context comprises an IAB authorized information element (IE), the new IAB-donor-CU considers the request for an IAB-node, wherein the IAB authorized IE provides information about an authorization status of the IAB-node; and, in response to the response for retrieving UE context comprising the IAB authorized IE, storing, by the new IAB-donor-CU, received IAB authorization information in the UE context.
Regarding Claim 41, Rajadurai teaches: the response for retrieving UE context comprises an IAB authorized information element (IE), the new IAB-donor-CU considers the request for an IAB-node: “In both cases, the IAB-node (200) requests the at least one IP address via RRC from the IAB-donor-CU (150). IAB-node (200) includes a separate IP address request for each usage, where the usages defined are all traffic, F1-U, F1-C and non-F1. The IAB-donor-CU (150) may initiate the IAB Transport Network Layer (TNL) Address Allocation procedure to obtain IP addresses from the IAB-donor-DU (160). The IAB-donor-CU (150) sends the IP addresses allocated for each usage to the IAB-node (200) via RRC” (Rajadurai ¶ 0076), wherein the IAB authorized IE provides information about an authorization status of the IAB-node: “There is need of a unique parameter stored during Phase-1 and/or Phase-2 procedure, so that during the Phase-3 (IAB-DU part setup), the IAB Node context (UE context) is identified to perform authentication and/or to determine whether the IAB node is “authorized” or “not authorized”. Thus, a system and method are required to identify the established UE context and to check whether the IAB node is authorized (for example, “IAB Authorized”) and/or to generate the security credentials/parameters required to perform authentication procedure to establish the F1* interface” (Rajadurai ¶ 0043); and, in response to the response for retrieving UE context comprising the IAB authorized IE, storing, by the new IAB-donor-CU, received IAB authorization information in the UE context: “an IAB node acting as a user equipment (UE) with MT functionalities, performs the authentication, authorization, and establish an access stratum (AS) security context with an IAB-donor node. During the above procedure (i.e. IAB-MT setup), the IAB-donor node obtains the IAB authorization information of the IAB node from an AMF/MME (for example, as part of Initial Context Setup procedure (i.e. INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message)) and stores the authorization information of the IAB node along with the IAB node's context (i.e. UE context)” (Rajadurai ¶ 0041).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhu with Rajadurai for the purpose of providing IoT networks the ability to access 5G capabilities. According to Rajadurai: “various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as a sensor network, MTC, and M2M communication may be implemented by beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud RAN as the above-described big data processing technology may also be considered to be as an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology” (Rajadurai ¶ 0005).
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu and Rajadurai as applied to claim 11 above, and further in view of Fiorani et al. (US 2020/0084655), hereinafter Fiorani.
Regarding Claim 13, Zhu and Rajadurai teach: The method according to claim 11.
Zhu and Rajadurai do not teach: the F1AP UE context for each UE comprises at least one of the following: a gNB-CU UE F1AP ID at the initial IAB-donor-CU, a gNB-DU UE F1AP ID, a secondary cell (SCell) list of the UE, a candidate special cell (SpCell) list of the UE, a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle, a data radio bearer (DRB) list each item of which comprises a DRB ID, a local channel ID (LCID), a downlink (DL) UP TNL information list indicating a gNB-DU endpoint of a F1 transport bearer, a UL UP TNL information list indicating a gNB-CU endpoint of a F1 transport bearer, a QoS of a DRB, QoS flows mapped to the DRB, BH Information, a RLC mode, a UL configuration, a duplication activation, a DL PDCP SN length, a UL PDCP SN length, a cell-radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), a BH RLC channel list, or a BAP address configured for an corresponding child IAB-node.
Regarding Claim 13, Fiorani teaches: the F1AP UE context for each UE comprises at least one of the following: a gNB-CU UE F1AP ID at the initial IAB-donor-CU, a gNB-DU UE F1AP ID, a secondary cell (SCell) list of the UE, a candidate special cell (SpCell) list of the UE, a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle, a data radio bearer (DRB) list each item of which comprises a DRB ID, a local channel ID (LCID), a downlink (DL) UP TNL information list indicating a gNB-DU endpoint of a F1 transport bearer, a UL UP TNL information list indicating a gNB-CU endpoint of a F1 transport bearer, a QoS of a DRB, QoS flows mapped to the DRB, BH Information, a RLC mode, a UL configuration, a duplication activation, a DL PDCP SN length, a UL PDCP SN length, a cell-radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), a BH RLC channel list, or a BAP address configured for an corresponding child IAB-node: “For example, the DU may declare that the UE is inactive when all its bearers/DRBs have not been used for data transmission for a certain amount of time. The message may also include information about activity per-bearer/DRB. In case of a class 1 procedure, the gNB-CU may respond with an acknowledgment that the data has been received correctly. Employ the F1AP UE Context Modification Required procedure: Another option is to rely on the existing F1AP UE Context Modification Required procedure, which is a UE-associated and gNB-DU initiated procedure as described in TS 38.473 (version 0.4.0). The UE Context Modification Required procedure is class 1. The DU may initiate the procedure by sending the UE Context Modification Required messages, and the CU may report the successful update of the UE Context in a UE Context Modification Confirm message. The UE Context Modification Required message could be enhanced with a new IE that carries information about UE activity and optionally also information about bearer/DRBs activity” (Fiorani ¶ 0059-0060)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhu and Rajadurai with Fiorani for the purpose of improving the performance of OTT services provide to the UE. According to Fiorani: “One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to UE 530 using OTT connection 550, in which wireless connection 570 forms the last segment” (Fiorani ¶ 0110).
Claims 14-15, 17, and 39-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu and Rajadurai as applied to claims 6 and 36 above, and further in view of Liu et al. (US 2023/0276322), hereinafter Liu.
Regarding Claim 14, Zhu and Rajadurai teach: The method according to claim 6.
Zhu and Rajadurai do not teach: the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of context information of at least one descendant IAB-node of the IAB-node identified by a UE context ID; and for each descendant IAB-node, the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of the following:, an IAB-MT context, an IAB-DU context, backhaul and topology-related information, or IP address information.
Regarding Claim 14, Liu teaches: the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of context information of at least one descendant IAB-node of the IAB-node identified by a UE context ID: “The UE context list includes context information of the IAB node 5 and its descendant node, and/or context information of a UE under the IAB node 5 and a UE under its descendant node” (Liu ¶ 0241); and for each descendant IAB-node, the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of the following:, an IAB-MT context, an IAB-DU context, backhaul and topology-related information, or IP address information: “the context information includes at least one of node context information or context information of a UE, the node context information includes context information of the migrating node and context information of the descendant node of the migrating node, and the UEs include a UE connected to the migrating node and a UE connected to the descendant node of the migrating node” (Liu ¶ 0038).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhu and Rajadurai with Liu for the purpose of simplifying node switching processes. According to Liu: “An object of the present disclosure is to provide an information transmission method and an information transmission device in IAB node group switching, and a network device, so as to simplify a signaling process of switching the IAB node between the CUs to some extent” (Liu ¶ 0004).
Regarding Claim 15, Zhu and Rajadurai teach: The method according to claim 6.
Zhu and Rajadurai do not teach: the response for retrieving UE context comprises context information of at least one descendant UE of an IAB node identified by a UE context ID; and for each descendant UE, the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of the following: UE context information, an UE ID, wherein the UE ID comprises an UE context ID or another ID identifying an associated UE.
Regarding Claim 15, Liu teaches: the response for retrieving UE context comprises context information of at least one descendant UE of an IAB node identified by a UE context ID: “The UE context list includes context information of the IAB node 5 and its descendant node, and/or context information of a UE under the IAB node 5 and a UE under its descendant node” (Liu ¶ 0241); and for each descendant UE, the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of the following: UE context information, an UE ID, wherein the UE ID comprises an UE context ID or another ID identifying an associated UE: “the context information includes at least one of node context information or context information of a UE, the node context information includes context information of the migrating node and context information of the descendant node of the migrating node, and the UEs include a UE connected to the migrating node and a UE connected to the descendant node of the migrating node” (Liu ¶ 0038).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhu and Rajadurai with Liu for the purpose of simplifying node switching processes. According to Liu: “An object of the present disclosure is to provide an information transmission method and an information transmission device in IAB node group switching, and a network device, so as to simplify a signaling process of switching the IAB node between the CUs to some extent” (Liu ¶ 0004).
Regarding Claim 17, Zhu and Liu teach: The method according to claim 15,
Zhu and Liu do not teach: the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of the following information of an IAB-node identified by the UE context ID: an IAB-MT context, an IAB-DU context, backhaul and topology-related information, or IP address information.
Regarding Claim 17, Rajadurai teaches: the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of the following information of an IAB-node identified by the UE context ID: an IAB-MT context, an IAB-DU context, backhaul and topology-related information, or IP address information: “an authentication mechanism (using dynamic Pre-shared Key (PSK)) over an Internet Key Exchange (IKEv2) to establish Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) tunnels requires identification of the AS security context established by the IAB-UE, to generate a dynamic PSK and use it to perform authentication to establish the IPsec Security Associations (SA) for the F1 interface. To identify the established IAB-node's context (UE context) by the IAB-donor, to perform authorization and/or authentication of the IAB-node, during the IAB-DU part setup, the IP address assigned during the phase-2 is used to identify the UE context and to establishment the security association for the F1 interface” (Rajadurai ¶ 0043).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhu and Liu with Rajadurai for the purpose of providing IoT networks the ability to access 5G capabilities. According to Rajadurai: “various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as a sensor network, MTC, and M2M communication may be implemented by beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud RAN as the above-described big data processing technology may also be considered to be as an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology” (Rajadurai ¶ 0005).
Regarding Claim 39, Zhu and Rajadurai teach: The apparatus according to claim 36.
Zhu and Rajadurai do not teach: the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of context information of at least one descendant IAB-node of the IAB-node identified by a UE context ID; and for each descendant IAB-node, the response for retrieve UE context comprises at least one of the following: an IAB-MT context, an IAB-DU context, backhaul and topology-related information, or IP address information.
Regarding Claim 39, Liu teaches: the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of context information of at least one descendant IAB-node of the IAB-node identified by a UE context ID: “The UE context list includes context information of the IAB node 5 and its descendant node, and/or context information of a UE under the IAB node 5 and a UE under its descendant node” (Liu ¶ 0241); and for each descendant IAB-node, the response for retrieve UE context comprises at least one of the following: an IAB-MT context, an IAB-DU context, backhaul and topology-related information, or IP address information: “the context information includes at least one of node context information or context information of a UE, the node context information includes context information of the migrating node and context information of the descendant node of the migrating node, and the UEs include a UE connected to the migrating node and a UE connected to the descendant node of the migrating node” (Liu ¶ 0038).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhu and Rajadurai with Liu for the purpose of simplifying node switching processes. According to Liu: “An object of the present disclosure is to provide an information transmission method and an information transmission device in IAB node group switching, and a network device, so as to simplify a signaling process of switching the IAB node between the CUs to some extent” (Liu ¶ 0004).
Regarding Claim 40, Zhu and Rajadurai teach: The apparatus according to claim 36.
Zhu and Rajadurai do not teach: the response for retrieving UE context comprises context information of at least one descendant UE of an IAB node identified by a UE context ID; and for each descendant UE, the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of the following: UE context information, an UE ID, wherein the UE ID comprises an UE context ID or another ID identifying an associated UE.
Regarding Claim 40, Liu teaches: the response for retrieving UE context comprises context information of at least one descendant UE of an IAB node identified by a UE context ID: “The UE context list includes context information of the IAB node 5 and its descendant node, and/or context information of a UE under the IAB node 5 and a UE under its descendant node” (Liu ¶ 0241); and for each descendant UE, the response for retrieving UE context comprises at least one of the following: UE context information, an UE ID, wherein the UE ID comprises an UE context ID or another ID identifying an associated UE: “the context information includes at least one of node context information or context information of a UE, the node context information includes context information of the migrating node and context information of the descendant node of the migrating node, and the UEs include a UE connected to the migrating node and a UE connected to the descendant node of the migrating node” (Liu ¶ 0038).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhu and Rajadurai with Liu for the purpose of simplifying node switching processes. According to Liu: “An object of the present disclosure is to provide an information transmission method and an information transmission device in IAB node group switching, and a network device, so as to simplify a signaling process of switching the IAB node between the CUs to some extent” (Liu ¶ 0004).
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu, Rajadurai, and Liu as applied to claim 15 above, and further in view of Liu et al. (US 2021/0377930), hereinafter Liu’930.
Regarding Claim 16, Zhu, Rajadurai, and Liu teach: The method according to claim 15.
Zhu, Rajadurai, and Liu do not teach: the UE context information comprises at least one of the following IEs: a NG-control plane interface (NG-C) UE associated signaling reference, a signaling transport network layer (TNL) association address at a source NG-C side, a UE security capabilities, access stratum (AS) security information, a UE aggregate maximum bit rate, a packet data unit (PDU) session resources to be setup list, or a RRC context.
Regarding Claim 16, Liu’930 teaches: the UE context information comprises at least one of the following IEs: a NG-control plane interface (NG-C) UE associated signaling reference, a signaling transport network layer (TNL) association address at a source NG-C side: “The IAB donor CU sends, to the IAB donor DU through an F1AP UE Context Modification Request message, the DL F1-U TNL information allocated by the IAB node 2 DU” (Liu’930 ¶ 0221), a UE security capabilities, access stratum (AS) security information, a UE aggregate maximum bit rate, a packet data unit (PDU) session resources to be setup list, or a RRC context.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhu, Rajadurai, and Liu with Liu’930 for the purpose of simplifying node switching processes. According to Liu’930: “An object of the present disclosure is to provide an information transmission method and an information transmission device in IAB node group switching, and a network device, so as to simplify a signaling process of switching the IAB node between the CUs to some extent” (Liu’930 ¶ 0004).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 BRADLEY DAVIS LYTLE whose telephone number is (703)756-4593. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM EST.
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, Kwang bin Yao can be reached at 571-272-3182. 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.
/B.D.L./Examiner, Art Unit 2473
/BRADLEY D LYTLE JR./Examiner, Art Unit 2473
/JUTAI KAO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473
Prosecution Insights