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 .
Election/Restrictions
2. Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-14 in the reply filed on 12/22/2025 is acknowledged.
Drawings
3. The drawings were received on 05/17/2023. These drawings are considered by examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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 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.
5. 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.
6. Claims 1, 3-10, 12, 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al (US 2023/0276220), hereinafter “Wang“, in view of Zhu et al (US 2022/0408397), hereinafter “Zhu“.
Regarding claim 1, Wang teaches a system for optimizing N10 interface communications (Figs 1-2 teach N10 interface), the system comprising:
one or more processors (par [0078]); and
one or more computer-readable media storing computer-usable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to (a wireless would have processors and storages):
initiate a first session for a first device on a first network, via a first network component (Figs. 27-28 and pars [0214-0215], the UE registered on ePDG), wherein initiating the first session comprises communicating a first registration message including registration information for the first device via an N10 interface (Fig. 3 shows N10 interface between the SMF and UDM, and pars [0164-0165] teach the registration request over N10 interface);
receive an indication that the first device has terminated the first session (pars [0164-0165], and [0205-0207]);
identify that the first device has initiated a second session via a second network component (pars [0214-0215], and [0259-0261]);
Wang does not explicitly teach initiate a local de-registration protocol at the first network component, wherein the local de-registration protocol comprises:
locally, at the first network component, de-register the user device; and
prevent a communication of an N10 de-registration message via the N10 interface.
Zhu, in the same field of endeavor, teaches initiate a local de-registration protocol at the first network component (par [0004]), wherein the local de-registration protocol (par [0004] teaches deregistration protocols) comprises:
locally, at the first network component, de-register the user device (pars [0011], and [0191]); and prevent a communication of an N10 de-registration message via the N10 interface (pars [0011], and [0191]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Wang to Zhu, in order to provide additional flexibility to the existing 5G protocols to allow registration and deregistration of multi-access protocol sessions (as suggested by Zhu in paragraph [0003]).
Regarding claim 3, Wang and Zhu teach the system of claim 1, Wang does not clearly teach wherein the indication that the first device has terminated the first session is a termination message from the first device.
Zhu, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the indication that the first device has terminated the first session is a termination message from the first device (pars [0039-0040] teach the session management and the user plane function, this function includes the following functionalities: serving as an anchor point for intra-/inter-radio access technology (RAT) mobility, packet routing & forwarding, traffic usage reporting, the UPF terminating the N interface towards the data network).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Wang to Zhu, in order to provide additional flexibility to the existing 5G protocols to allow registration and deregistration of multi-access protocol sessions (as suggested by Zhu in paragraph [0003]).
Regarding claim 4, Wang and Zhu teach the system of claim 1, Wang does not clearly teach wherein the indication that the first device has terminated the first session is a period of inactivity during the first session.
Zhu, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the indication that the first device has terminated the first session is a period of inactivity during the first session (pars [0039-0040] teach the session management and the user plane function, this function includes the following functionalities: serving as an anchor point for intra-/inter-radio access technology (RAT) mobility, packet routing & forwarding, traffic usage reporting, the UPF terminating the N interface towards the data network).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Wang to Zhu, in order to provide additional flexibility to the existing 5G protocols to allow registration and deregistration of multi-access protocol sessions (as suggested by Zhu in paragraph [0003]).
Regarding claim 5, Wang and Zhu teach the system of claim 1, Wang further teaches wherein the first network component is a first Session Management Function (SMF) (par [0010] teaches the first SMF).
Regarding claim 6, Wang and Zhu teach the system of claim 1, Wang does not clearly teach wherein the second network component is a second Session Management Function (SMF).
Zhu, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the second network component is a second Session Management Function (SMF) (par [0010]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Wang to Zhu, in order to provide additional flexibility to the existing 5G protocols to allow registration and deregistration of multi-access protocol sessions (as suggested by Zhu in paragraph [0003]).
Regarding claim 7, Wang and Zhu teach the system of claim 1, Wang further teaches wherein the first network is a 5G Network (par [0011] teaches 5G network).
Regarding claim 8, Wang teaches method for optimizing N10 interface communications (Figs 1-2 teach N10 interface), the system comprising:
initiating a first session for a first device on a first network, via a first network component (Figs. 27-28 and pars [0214-0215], the UE registered on ePDG), wherein initiating the first session comprises communicating a first registration message including registration information for the first device via an N10 interface (Fig. 3 shows N10 interface between the SMF and UDM, and pars [0164-0165] teach the registration request over N10 interface);
receiving an indication that the first device has terminated the first session (pars [0164-0165] [0205-0207]);
identifying that the first device has initiated a second session via a second network component (pars [0214-0215] [0259-0261]); and
Wang does not explicitly teach initiating a local de-registration protocol at the first network component, wherein the local de-registration protocol (par [0004] teaches deregistration protocols) comprises:
locally, at the first network component, de-registering the user device; and preventing a communication of an N10 de-registration message via the N10 interface.
Zhu, in the same field of endeavor, teaches initiating a local de-registration protocol at the first network component (pars [0004]), wherein the local de-registration protocol (par 0004 teaches deregistration protocols) comprises: locally, at the first network component, de-registering the user device (pars [0011], [0191]); and preventing a communication of an N10 de-registration message via the N10 interface (pars [0011] [0191]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Wang to Zhu, in order to provide additional flexibility to the existing 5G protocols to allow registration and deregistration of multi-access protocol sessions (as suggested by Zhu in paragraph [0003]).
Regarding claim 9, Wang and Zhu teach the method of claim 8, Wang further teaches wherein the first network is a 5G Network (par [0011] teaches 5G network).
Regarding claim 10, Wang and Zhu teach the method of claim 9, Wang does not wherein the indication that the first device has terminated the first session is a period of inactivity during the first session.
Zhu, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the indication that the first device has terminated the first session is a period of inactivity during the first session (pars [0039-0040] teach the session management and the user plane function, this function includes the following functionalities: serving as an anchor point for intra-/inter-radio access technology (RAT) mobility, packet routing & forwarding, traffic usage reporting, the UPF terminating the N interface towards the data network).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Wang to Zhu, in order to provide additional flexibility to the existing 5G protocols to allow registration and deregistration of multi-access protocol sessions (as suggested by Zhu in paragraph [0003]).
Regarding claim 12, Wang and Zhu teach the method of claim 8, Wang does not wherein the indication that the first device has terminated the first session is a termination message from the first device.
Zhu, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the indication that the first device has terminated the first session is a termination message from the first device (pars [0039-0040] teach the session management and the user plane function, this function includes the following functionalities: serving as an anchor point for intra-/inter-radio access technology (RAT) mobility, packet routing & forwarding, traffic usage reporting, the UPF terminating the N interface towards the data network).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Wang to Zhu, in order to provide additional flexibility to the existing 5G protocols to allow registration and deregistration of multi-access protocol sessions (as suggested by Zhu in paragraph [0003]).
Regarding claim 14, Wang and Zhu teach the method of claim 8, Wang does not clearly teach wherein the first network component is a first Session Management Function (SMF) and the second network component is a second SMF.
Zhu, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the first network component is a first Session Management Function (SMF) and the second network component is a second SMF (par [0010] teaches SMF1 and SMF2 reads on the first SMF and the second SMF).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Wang to Zhu, in order to provide additional flexibility to the existing 5G protocols to allow registration and deregistration of multi-access protocol sessions (as suggested by Zhu in paragraph [0003]).
7. Claims 2, 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al (US 2023/0276220), hereinafter “Wang“, in view of Zhu et al (US 2022/0408397), hereinafter “Zhu“, further in view of Starsinic WO 2021/183870 A1, hereinafter “Starsinic”.
Regarding claims 2 and 11, the combination of Wang and Zhu teach the system of claims 1, 8, but Wang and Zhu are silent on wherein the indication that the first device has terminated the first session is an expiration of a timer at the first network component.
Starsinic, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the indication that the first device has terminated the first session is an expiration of a timer at the first network component (par [00172]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Wang and Zhu to Starsinic, in order to allow the UE to quickly and efficiently determine the slice(s) available in a cell to perform lice-based cell selection and reselection (as suggested by Starsinic in paragraph [0028]).
Allowable Subject Matter
8. Claim 13 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
As to claim 13, the prior art of record fails to disclose that wherein the method further comprises: determining a congestion threshold of the N10 interface is above a predetermined congestion threshold; and initiating the local de-registration protocol based on determining the congestion threshold of the N10 interface is above the predetermined congestion threshold as specified in the claim.
Conclusion
9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL T VU whose telephone number is (571)272-8131. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00AM to 6:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Appiah can be reached on (571-272-7904. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHAEL T VU/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2641