CTFR 18/271,634 CTFR 90582 Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. DETAILED ACTION This office action is in response to the amendments filed on 01/30/2026. Claims 1-7, 9-12, 15 and 17-20 are currently pending. Claims 1-7, 9-12, 15 and 17-20 are rejected. Claims 1, 10 and 15 are independent claims. Response to Amendment Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 6. 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. 07-20-aia AIA 7. 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. 07-23-fti 8. The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co. , 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) 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. 07-21-aia AIA 9. Claim s 1-7, 9-12, 15 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Naeem AKL et al. (US 2022/0141894 A1), hereinafter AKL, in view of Xiang XU et al. (US 2022/0182905 A1), hereinafter XU . For claim 1, AKL teaches a method in an integrated backhaul (IAB)-node operating in a radio access network (RAN), the method for establishing concurrent connections with multiple centralized units (CUs) operating in the RAN (AKL, Figs 4, 8) , and the method comprising: transmitting, by gNB-distributed unit functionality of the IAB-node (IAB-DU) and to a first CU included in a first IAB-donor, a first interface message to establish a first connection between the IAB-DU and the first CU (AKL, Figs. 5, 8 and paragraph 103.) ; and transmitting, by the IAB-DU to a second CU included in a second IAB-donor, a second interface message to establish a second connection between the IAB-DU and the second CU, to maintain the first connection and the second connection concurrently (AKL, Fig. 8 and paragraph 103.). XU further teaches transmitting, from the IAB-DU by a first CU, a first message; and transmitting, to a second CU by the first CU, a request to establish a second connection between the IAB-DU and the second CU (XU, Fig. 4 and paragraphs 54-60.). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method taught in AKL with transmitting, from the IAB-DU by a first CU, a first message; and transmitting, to a second CU by the first CU, a request to establish a second connection between the IAB-DU and the second CU taught in XU to have method of transmitting, by gNB-distributed unit functionality of the IAB-node (IAB-DU) and to a first CU included in a first IAB-donor, a first interface message to establish a first connection between the IAB-DU and the first CU; and transmitting, by the IAB-DU via the first CU and to a second CU included in a second IAB-donor, a second interface message to establish a second connection between the IAB-DU and the second CU via the first CU, to maintain the first connection and the second connection concurrently to improve communication performances [XU: background]. For claim 2, AKL and XU further teach the method of claim 1, wherein: the first interface message includes a first identity associated with the first connection, and the second interface message includes a second identity associated with the second connection (AKL, Fig. 5 and paragraph 80. See also XU, Fig. 2 and paragraph 56.). For claim 3, AKL and XU further teach the method of claim 1, wherein: transmitting the first interface message includes transmitting the first interface message over a first channel for carrying control plane traffic; and transmitting the second interface message includes transmitting the second interface message over a second channel for carrying user plane traffic (AKL, Fig. 5 and paragraph 77.). For claim 4, AKL and XU further teach the method of claim 1, wherein: transmitting the first interface message includes transmitting the first interface message in a first packet; and transmitting the second interface message includes transmitting the second interface message in a second packet (AKL, Fig. 5 and paragraph 77. See also XU, Fig. 2.). For claim 5, AKL and XU further teach the method of claim 4, wherein: the first packet includes a first identity associated with the first connection; and the second packet includes a second identity associated with the second connection (AKL, Fig. 5 and paragraph 80. See also XU, Fig. 2 and paragraph 56.). For claim 6, AKL and XU further teach the method of claim 1, further comprising: performing a handover of the IAB-DU to the second CU; releasing the first connection and the second connection after the handover; and transmitting a third interface message to the second CU via a radio interface between the IAB-DU and a network node of the second CU, to establish a third connection with the second CU (AKL, Fig. 8 and paragraphs 87, 96-103.). For claim 7, AKL and XU further teach the method of claim 1, further comprising: performing a handover of the IAB-DU to the second CU; and retaining the first connection and the second connection after the handover (AKL, Fig. 8 and paragraphs 87, 96-103.). For claim 9, AKL and XU further teach an integrated access and backhaul distributed unit (IAB-DU) including processing hardware and configured to implement the method of claim 1 (AKL, Fig. 12 and paragraph 9. See also XU, Fig. 8 and paragraph 118.). For claim 10, AKL teaches a method in a centralized unit (CU) included in an integrated backhaul (IAB-donor operating in a radio access network (RAN), the method for establishing concurrent connections of qNB-distributed unit functionality of an IAB-node (IAB-DU) with multiple CUs operating in the RAN (AKL, Figs. 4-5, 8) , the method comprising: receiving, by the CU and from the IAB-DU, a first interface message to establish a first connection between the IAB-DU and the CU (AKL, Fig. 8 and paragraph 103.) ; and receiving, by the CU and from the IAB-DU, a second interface message to establish a second connection between the IAB-DU and a second CU, to maintain the first connection and the second connection concurrently, the second CU included in a second IAB- donor operating in the RAN (AKL, Fig. 8 and paragraph 103.). XU further teaches transmitting, from the IAB-DU by a first CU, a first message; and transmitting, to a second CU by the first CU, a request to establish a second connection between the IAB-DU and the second CU (XU, Fig. 4 and paragraphs 54-60.). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method taught in AKL with transmitting, from the IAB-DU by a first CU, a first message; and transmitting, to a second CU by the first CU, a request to establish a second connection between the IAB-DU and the second CU taught in XU to have method of receiving, by the CU and from the IAB-DU, a first interface message to establish a first connection between the IAB-DU and the CU; receiving, by the CU and from the IAB-DU, a second interface message to establish a second connection between the IAB-DU and a second CU via the CU, to maintain the first connection and the second connection concurrently, the second CU included in a second IAB- donor operating in the RAN; determining, by the CU, that the second interface message is for the second CU; and transmitting, by the CU and to the second CU, the second interface message to establish the second connection to improve communication performances [XU: background]. For claim 11, AKL and XU further teach the method of claim 10, wherein determining that the second interface message is for the second CU includes one of: determining that the second interface message includes an identity of the second CU; determining that the second interface message is addressed to the second CU; determining that the second interface message omits an identity of the CU; or determining that the second interface message is received over a channel for carrying user plane traffic (AKL, Fig. 5 and paragraphs 77, 80. See also XU, Fig. 2 and paragraph 56.). For claim 12, AKL and XU further teach the method of claim 10, wherein at least one of: (i) the first interface message is a first F1 Setup Request message, a first UE Context Modification Required message, or a first UE Context Release Request message; and the second interface message is a second F1 Setup Request message, a UE Context Setup Request message, a second UE Context Modification Required message, or a second UE Context Release Request message; or (ii) the first connection is a first F1 connection and the second connection is a second F1 connection (AKL, Fig. 5 and paragraphs 77, 80. See also XU, Fig. 2 and paragraph 56.). For claim 15, AKL teaches a method in a centralized unit (CU) included in an integrated backhaul donor (IAB)-donor operating in a radio access network (RAN), the method for establishing a connection with qNB-distributed unit functionality included in an IAB node (IAB-DU) operating in the RAN (AKL, Figs. 4-5, 8) , and the method comprising: receiving, by the CU and from the IAB-DU, an uplink interface message via a second CU, the second CU included in a second IAB-donor operating in the RAN (AKL, Fig. 8 and paragraph 103.) ; transmitting, by the CU, a downlink interface message to the second CU (AKL, Fig. 8 and paragraphs 101-103.); and receiving, by the CU and from the second CU, a handover request for handing over a user equipment (UE) to a cell operated by the IAB-DU (AKL, Fig. 8 and paragraphs 101-103.). XU further teaches transmitting, from the IAB-DU by a first CU, a first message; and transmitting, to a second CU by the first CU, a request to establish a second connection between the IAB-DU and the second CU (XU, Fig. 4 and paragraphs 54-60.). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method taught in AKL with transmitting, from the IAB-DU by a first CU, a first message; and transmitting, to a second CU by the first CU, a request to establish a second connection between the IAB-DU and the second CU taught in XU to have method of receiving, by the CU and from the IAB-DU, an uplink interface message via a second CU, the second CU included in a second IAB-donor operating in the RAN; transmitting, by the CU, a downlink interface message to the IAB-DU via the second CU to establish a connection between the IAB-DU and the CU via the second CU; receiving, by the CU and from the second CU, a handover request for handing over a user equipment (UE) to a cell operated by the IAB-DU; and transmitting, by the CU and to the IAB-DU, a request for a context of the IAB-DU over the connection to improve communication performances [XU: background]. For claim 17, AKL and XU further teach a CU including processing hardware and configured to implement the method of claim 15 (AKL, Fig. 12 and paragraph 9. See also XU, Fig. 8 and paragraph 118.). For claim 18, AKL and XU further teach the CU of claim 17, wherein the CU operates to provide IAB functionality in the RAN (AKL, Figs. 4, 12 and paragraph 9. See also XU, Fig. 8 and paragraph 118.). For claim 19, AKL and XU further teach a CU including processing hardware and configured to implement the method of claim 10 (AKL, Fig. 12 and paragraph 9. See also XU, Fig. 8 and paragraph 118.). For claim 20, AKL and XU further teach the CU of claim 19, wherein the CU operates to provide IAB functionality in the RAN (AKL, Figs. 4, 12 and paragraph 9. See also XU, Fig. 8 and paragraph 118.). Response to Arguments 10. Applicant's arguments filed 01/30/2026 have been fully considered but they are moot because of the new ground of rejection. Conclusion 07-39 AIA 11. 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. 12. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILL W LIN whose telephone number is (571)272-8749. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-5:00. 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, Charles Jiang can be reached at 571-270-7191. 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. /WILL W LIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412 Application/Control Number: 18/271,634 Page 2 Art Unit: 2412 Application/Control Number: 18/271,634 Page 3 Art Unit: 2412 Application/Control Number: 18/271,634 Page 4 Art Unit: 2412 Application/Control Number: 18/271,634 Page 5 Art Unit: 2412 Application/Control Number: 18/271,634 Page 6 Art Unit: 2412 Application/Control Number: 18/271,634 Page 7 Art Unit: 2412 Application/Control Number: 18/271,634 Page 8 Art Unit: 2412 Application/Control Number: 18/271,634 Page 9 Art Unit: 2412 Application/Control Number: 18/271,634 Page 10 Art Unit: 2412 Application/Control Number: 18/271,634 Page 11 Art Unit: 2412
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