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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 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
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Foti et al. US Patent Pub. No.: 2022/0053401, hereinafter, ‘Foti’ in view of Oh US Patent Pub. No.: 2012/0064898, hereinafter, ‘ Oh’ and further in view of Quan et al. US Patent Pub. No.: 2017/0006520 A1, hereinafter, ‘Quan’ and further in view of Byrne US Patent No.: 5,737, 703.
Consider Claim 10 (and as applied to the Method of claim 1 and NTCRM of claim 18 ), Foti teaches an apparatus comprising: one or more network processor units to communicate over one or more networks (see structural architecture in figures 9-11); and one or more processors coupled to the one or more network processor units and configured to implement source network functions of a source public land mobile network (PLMN) (source PLMN) (e.g., “FIGS. 9 to 11 illustrate example embodiments of a network node (e.g., a core network node) in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure” ), wherein the one or more processors are configured to: execute an attach procedure by which user equipment attaches to the source PLMN and establishes a data session with a data network(e.g., see at least paragraphs 0014-0015 – “handover of a wireless device from an incoming access network to a cellular access network of a visited cellular network while in roaming comprises, at the wireless device, sending a message to a core network of the visited cellular network”); upon detecting a roam of the user equipment from the source PLMN to a target PLMN, accessing an inter-PLMN handover indicator that indicates whether a seamless inter-PLMN handover is allowed or is not allowed for the data network ( e.g., see at least 0014-0015 “the message comprises an incoming access indication, wherein the incoming access indication is an indication of the incoming access network from which the handover of the wireless device is desired. The method further comprises, at the core network node, receiving the message and making a decision as to whether to accept or reject the handover based on the incoming access indication”); and selectively perform the seamless inter-PLMN handover or not perform the seamless inter-PLMN handover of the data session from the source PLMN to the target PLMN as directed by the inter-PLMN handover indicator (e.g., see at least 0014-0015 – “a controlled handover is provided in which the wireless device may be gracefully rejected if handover is requested from a non-allowed incoming access network (e.g., a non-allowed incoming access network type”).
However, Foti does not teach when the inter-PLMN handover indicator indicates that the seamless inter-PLMN handover is allowed, performing the seamless inter-PLMN handover of the data session from the source PLMN to the target PLMN- as directed by the inter PLMN handover indicator; and when the inter-PLMN handover indicator indicates that the seamless inter-PLMN handover is not allowed, performing a non-seamless inter-PLMN handover of the data session from the source PLMN to the target PLMN by tearing down and clearing the data session to force the user equipment to execute a new attach procedure with the target PLMN, such that handover continuity of the data session is not maintained.
In analogous art, Oh teaches a handover indicator bit – 0070 – “The bit 2 represents seamless handover indication, and when the bit 2 is encoded as 1, a seamless handover procedure may be performed such that service is seamlessly provided in handover.”- 0082.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to try when the inter-PLMN handover indicator indicates that the seamless inter-PLMN handover is allowed, performing the seamless inter-PLMN handover of the data session from the source PLMN to the target PLMN- as directed by the inter PLMN handover indicator for the performance of improving service interruptions during HO.
In analogous art, Quan teaches “the identifier for allowing a terminal to perform a forward handover is equivalent to explicit indication information and may directly indicate whether a terminal is allowed to perform a forward handover or not. For example, bit 1 may be used as the first indication information and is used to indicate that a terminal is allowed to perform a forward handover; or bit 0 may be used as the first indication information and is used to indicate that a terminal is not allowed to perform a forward handover.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to try including explicit indicators when HO are allowed versus not allowed for the purpose of improving mobility.
However, Foti as modified by Oh and further modified by Quan does not explicitly teach
performing a non-seamless inter-PLMN handover of the data session from the source PLMN to the target PLMN by tearing down and clearing the data session to force the user equipment to execute a new attach procedure with the target PLMN, such that handover continuity of the data session is not maintained.
In analogous art, Byrne teaches most existing cellular systems use a "break then make" handover sequence in which communication between a radio telephone and the network via a first base station is broken under control of the network. Subsequently, the network attempts to re-open a communication channel with the radio telephone via a second base station.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to try performing a non-seamless inter-PLMN handover of the data session from the source PLMN to the target PLMN by tearing down and clearing the data session to force the user equipment to execute a new attach procedure with the target PLMN, such that handover continuity of the data session is not maintained since as noted by Byrne most existing cellular systems use a "break then make" handover sequence in which communication between a radio telephone and the network via a first base station is broken under control of the network. Subsequently, the network attempts to re-open a communication channel with the radio telephone via a second base station.
Consider claims 2, 11 and 19, Foti teaches the claimed invention except wherein each the source PLMN and the target PLMN includes cellular services.
In analogous art, Oh teaches wherein each the source PLMN and the target PLMN includes cellular services (e.g., see at least figure 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to try wherein each the source PLMN and the target PLMN includes cellular services for the purpose of improving mobility.
Consider claims 3, 12 and 20, Foti teaches the claimed invention except explicitly detecting the roam includes detecting the roam using reports of transmit and receive radio frequency power measurements for the user equipment.
In analogous art, Oh teaches a mobile station normally enters a network by performing: a network topology advertisement procedure that notifies all mobile stations (which are located in a cell) of information regarding a base station (BS); a neighbor base station scanning procedure that measures the channel qualities of neighbor base stations on the basis of the information; and an association procedure that optionally adjusts a time difference value for synchronization and power offset values of the mobile station and base station, when an initial network entry is performed(e.g., see at least 0037 which notes the very basics of detecting a mobile device which includes measuring the RX signals).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to try detecting the roam includes detecting the roam using reports of transmit and receive radio frequency power measurements for the user equipment for the purpose of mobility tracking.
Consider Claims 4 and 13, Foti teaches wherein the inter-PLMN handover indicator is stored in a user subscription database that includes data network names mapped to inter-PLMN handover indicators that each indicates whether a seamless inter-PLMN handover is allowed or is not allowed, and the method further comprises: upon executing the attach procedure, fetching the inter-PLMN handover indicator from the user subscription database based on a data network name of the data network obtained from the attach procedure, and storing the inter-PLMN handover indicator for later access, wherein accessing includes accessing the inter-PLMN handover indicator as stored (e.g., see at least 0079, 0084 – “the UE stores access information (i.e., information regarding the access network such as, e.g., an indication of the access network type) that the UE is currently using. Then, during a handover, the core network retrieves the incoming access indication from the UE” – see also 0093 “the UE's HPMN stores information about the access network of the UE, e.g., together with the P-GW identity, and the HSS provides this information to the MME (or AMF) when the MME receives information on the PDNs that the UE is connected to over the non-3GPP access in the subscriber data obtained from the HSS.).
Consider Claims 5 and 14, Foti teaches the claimed invention further comprising, at the source network functions of the source PLMN: upon detecting the roam, exchanging inter-PLMN handover messages with target network functions of the target PLMN; and triggering accessing the inter-PLMN handover indicator responsive to exchanging the inter-PLMN handover messages(e.g., see at least paragraphs 0014-0015 – “handover of a wireless device from an incoming access network to a cellular access network of a visited cellular network while in roaming comprises, at the wireless device, sending a message to a core network of the visited cellular network…”).
Consider Claims 6 and 15, Foti teaches wherein the source PLMN is a home PLMN of a user associated with the user equipment, the target PLMN is a visited PLMN (e.g., see at least 0071 – “UEa while roaming attaches to a WLAN, establishes a Virtual Private Network (VPN) with the Home Public Mobile Network (HPMN), then establishes a Voice over LTE (VoLTE) session with UEb.”), and exchanging includes: sending, to the visited PLMN, a user equipment context request that indicates a handover event for the data session; and in responsive to sending, receiving, from the visited PLMN, a data session request that indicates a handover event for the data session (e.g., see at least 0073 – “UEa starts an initial attach for handover purposes by sending an initial attach request. In this example, the initial attach request includes a handover (HO) indication that that initial attach request is for a handover. This is currently described in 3GPP TS 23.401 in the initial attach procedure and 3GPP TS 23.502, where the HO indication is mandatory for handover from N3GPP access to 3GPP access…”).
Consider Claims 7 and 16, Foti teaches wherein the target PLMN is a home PLMN of a user associated with the user equipment, the source PLMN is a visited PLMN, and exchanging includes: sending, to the home PLMN, a user equipment context request that identifies a handover event for the data session(e.g., see at least paragraphs 0014-0015 – “handover of a wireless device from an incoming access network to a cellular access network of a visited cellular network while in roaming comprises, at the wireless device, sending a message to a core network of the visited cellular network…. UEa while roaming attaches to a WLAN, establishes a Virtual Private Network (VPN) with the Home Public Mobile Network (HPMN), then establishes a Voice over LTE (VoLTE) session with UEb- 0071).
Consider Claims 8 and 17, Foti teaches wherein: the source network functions include a source radio access network (RAN), a source session management function (SMF), and a source access and mobility management function (AMF) (e.g., see at least 0057 – “Looking first at FIG. 2, as will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the 5GC 200 includes a number of Network Functions (NFs) connected by service-based interfaces in the control plane. An NF may be implemented either as a network element on a dedicated hardware, as a software instance running on a dedicated hardware, or as a virtualized function instantiated on an appropriate platform, e.g., a cloud infrastructure. As illustrated, the 5GC 200 includes a UPF 202, an SMF 204, an AMF 206, an AUSF 208, a NSSF 210, a NEF 212, a NRF 214, a PCF 216, a UDM 218, and an Application Function (AF) 220).
Consider Claims 9, Foti teaches wherein the source PLMN and the target PLMN are each a 5G network (e.g., see at least 0013 – 5G disclosure).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US Patent Pub. No.: 20120087338 teaches the backhaul network handover response messages 206A, 206B, 206C may indicate whether seamless handover is enabled, such as by setting a seamless handover bit to 1- 0086 and 0088.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHARLES TERRELL SHEDRICK whose telephone number is (571)272-8621. The examiner can normally be reached 8A-5P.
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/CHARLES T SHEDRICK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646
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