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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 03/02/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments on 02/05/2026, with respect to claim(s) 1, 9 and 17 have been considered but are moot because the claims have been amended with the new limitations and features, and the arguments are not persuasive for the following reasons.
With respect to the arguments that Sood and Kwak fails to disclose or suggest at least the amended feature, i.e., wherein the UE communicates, over a single Radio Access Network (RAN), with the 4G core network component and the 5G core network component, which is different from the 4G core network component.” The examiner respectfully disagrees because Kwak teaches the UE communicates over a single RAN 610 with a core network CN 620, which can be one or more elements 622 and the core network CN 620 can be a 5G or an evolved packet core such as 4G LTE (Kwak, Figure 6, pp [92]-[93]).
Therefore, the argued features were written such that they read upon the cited reference as discussed and explained in the above.
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.
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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sood et al. (Pub. No. US 2023/0269650) and further in view of Kwak et al. (Pub. No. US 2021/0058970).
Regarding claim 1. (Currently Amended) Sood teaches a device (Sood, the Abstract), comprising:
a processor (Sood, Fig. 6, pp [52]), configured to:
receive a request for context information for a User Equipment device (UE) from a Fourth Generation (4G) core network component (Sood, Figs. 5A and 5B, pp [47]-[51]);
retrieve Fifth Generation (5G) data (Sood, Figs. 5A and 5B, pp [47]-[51]); and
send, to the 4G core network component, a reply comprising the 5G data and an indication whether the 4G core network component is to use the 5G data to instruct the UE (Sood, Figs. 5A and 5B, pp [47]-[51]).
Sood does not teach “wherein the UE communicates, over a single Radio Access Network (RAN), with the 4G core network component and the 5G core network component, which is different from the 4G core network component”.
Kwak teaches “wherein the UE communicates, over a single Radio Access Network (RAN), with the 4G core network component and the 5G core network component, which is different from the 4G core network component” (Kwak, Fig. 6, pp [61]-[63], [92]-[93]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the affective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Sood by incorporating teachings of Kwak, method and system are implemented to operate in conjunction with the LTE system and 5G system standards to provide the robustness and facilitation for seamless wireless connectivity solutions for multiple radio access technologies wherein the system provides wireless and fast delivery of rich contents and services to wireless communication devices UEs via an effective and sufficient structural design which comprises a single RAN network that comprises multiple different technological access nodes including LTE and 5G technologies to quickly and sufficiently provide services to the wireless communication devices UEs roaming in the network.
Regarding claim 9. (Currently Amended) Sood teaches a system (Sood, the Abstract), comprising:
a first component configured to:
receive a request for context information for a User Equipment device (UE) from a Fourth Generation (4G) core network component (Sood, Figs. 5A and 5B, pp [47]-[51]);
retrieve Fifth Generation (5G) data (Sood, Figs. 5A and 5B, pp [47]-[51]); and
send, to the 4G core network component, a reply comprising the 5G data and an indication whether the 4G core network component is to use the 5G data to instruct the UE (Sood, Figs. 5A and 5B, pp [47]-[51]).
Sood does not teach “wherein the UE communicates, over a single Radio Access Network (RAN), with the 4G core network component and the 5G core network component, which is different from the 4G core network component”.
Kwak teaches “wherein the UE communicates, over a single Radio Access Network (RAN), with the 4G core network component and the 5G core network component, which is different from the 4G core network component” (Kwak, Fig. 6, pp [61]-[63], [92]-[93]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the affective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Sood by incorporating teachings of Kwak, method and system are implemented to operate in conjunction with the LTE system and 5G system standards to provide the robustness and facilitation for seamless wireless connectivity solutions for multiple radio access technologies wherein the system provides wireless and fast delivery of rich contents and services to wireless communication devices UEs via an effective and sufficient structural design which comprises a single RAN network that comprises multiple different technological access nodes including LTE and 5G technologies to quickly and sufficiently provide services to the wireless communication devices UEs roaming in the network.
Regarding claim 17. (Currently Amended) Sood teaches a method (Sood, the Abstract), comprising:
receiving, at a 5G core network component, a request for context information for a User Equipment device (UE) from a Fourth Generation (4G) core network component (Sood, Figs. 5A and 5B, pp [47]-[51]);
retrieving Fifth Generation (5G) data (Sood, Figs. 5A and 5B, pp [47]-[51]); and
sending, to the 4G core network component, a reply comprising the 5G data and an indication whether the 4G core network component is to use the 5G data to instruct the UE (Sood, Figs. 5A and 5B, pp [47]-[51]).
Sood does not teach “wherein the UE communicates, over a single Radio Access Network (RAN), with the 4G core network component and the 5G core network component, which is different from the 4G core network component”.
Kwak teaches “wherein the UE communicates, over a single Radio Access Network (RAN), with the 4G core network component and the 5G core network component, which is different from the 4G core network component” (Kwak, Fig. 6, pp [61]-[63], [92]-[93]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the affective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Sood by incorporating teachings of Kwak, method and system are implemented to operate in conjunction with the LTE system and 5G system standards to provide the robustness and facilitation for seamless wireless connectivity solutions for multiple radio access technologies wherein the system provides wireless and fast delivery of rich contents and services to wireless communication devices UEs via an effective and sufficient structural design which comprises a single RAN network that comprises multiple different technological access nodes including LTE and 5G technologies to quickly and sufficiently provide services to the wireless communication devices UEs roaming in the network.
Regarding claim 2. (Original) Sood, as modified by Kwak, teaches the device of claim 1, wherein the device comprises an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), and wherein the 4G core network component comprises a Mobility Management Entity (MME) (Sood, Figs. 5A and 5B, pp [47]-[51]).
Regarding claim 3. (Original) Sood, as modified by Kwak, teaches the device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: receive the indication from a Policy Control Function (PCF) (Sood, Fig. 2, pp [26]).
Regarding claim 4. (Original) Sood, as modified by Kwak, teaches the device of claim 3, wherein the PCF is configured to:
determine whether the UE is to terminate a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection established with a 5G Node B (gNB) and establish a RRC connection with an Evolved Node B (eNB) (Sood, Figs. 5A and 5B, pp [47]-[51]); and
forward a result of the determination as a parameter value to the 4G core network component (Sood, Figs. 5A and 5B, pp [47]-[51]).
Regarding claim 5. (Original) Sood, as modified by Kwak, teaches the device of claim 1, wherein when the processor retrieves the 5G data, the processor is configured to: retrieve the 5G data from a Unified Data Repository (UDR) (Sood, pp [30]).
Regarding claim 6. (Original) Sood, as modified by Kwak, teaches the device of claim 5, wherein the 5G data comprises at least one of:
a UE Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (AMBR) for the UE, a Presence Reporting Area (PRA) identifier (ID) for the UE; or a Radio Frequency Selection Policy (RSP) ID for the UE (Sood, pp [40]).
Regarding claim 7. (Original) Sood, as modified by Kwak, teaches the device of claim 1, wherein the 4G core network component comprises a Mobility Management Entity (MME) configured to: retrieve 4G data from a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) to instruct the UE (Sood, pp [30], [33]-[34]).
Regarding claim 8. (Original) Sood, as modified by Kwak, teaches the device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to:
receive a first registration request for the UE (Sood, pp [28]-[29]); and
send a second request to a Policy Control Function (PCF) to obtain a policy to associate with the UE (Sood, pp [28]-[29]).
Regarding claim 10. (Original) Sood, as modified by Kwak, teaches the system of claim 9, wherein the first component comprises an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), and wherein the 4G core network component comprises a Mobility Management Entity (MME) (Sood, Figs. 5A and 5B, pp [47]-[51]).
Regarding claim 11. (Original) Sood, as modified by Kwak, teaches the system of claim 9, wherein the first component is further configured to: receive the indication from a Policy Control Function (PCF) (Sood, Fig. 2, pp [26]).
Regarding claim 12. (Original) Sood, as modified by Kwak, teaches the system of claim 11, wherein the PCF is configured to:
determine whether the UE is to terminate a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection established with a 5G Node B (gNB) and establish a RRC connection with an Evolved Node B (eNB) (Sood, Figs. 5A and 5B, pp [47]-[51]); and
forward a result of the determination as a parameter value to the 4G core network component (Sood, Figs. 5A and 5B, pp [47]-[51]).
Regarding claim 13. (Original) Sood, as modified by Kwak, teaches the system of claim 9, wherein when the first component retrieves the 5G data, the first component is configured to: retrieve the 5G data from a Unified Data Repository (UDR) (Sood, pp [30]).
Regarding claim 14. (Original) Sood, as modified by Kwak, teaches the system of claim 13, wherein the 5G data comprises at least one of:
a UE Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (AMBR) for the UE, a Presence Reporting Area (PRA) identifier (ID) for the UE; or a Radio Frequency Selection Policy (RSP) ID for the UE (Sood, pp [40]).
Regarding claim 15. (Original) Sood, as modified by Kwak, teaches the system of claim 9, wherein the 4G core network component comprises a Mobility Management Entity (MME) configured to: retrieve 4G data from a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) to instruct the UE (Sood, pp [30], [33]-[34]).
Regarding claim 16. (Original) Sood, as modified by Kwak, teaches the system of claim 9, wherein the first component is further configured to:
receive a first registration request for the UE (Sood, pp [28]-[29]); and
in response to the first registration request, send a second request to a Policy Control Function (PCF) to obtain a policy to associate with the UE (Sood, pp [28]-[29]).
Regarding claim 18. (Original) Sood, as modified by Kwak, teaches the method of claim 17, wherein the 5G core network component comprises an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), and wherein the 4G core network component comprises a Mobility Management Entity (MME) (Sood, Figs. 5A and 5B, pp [47]-[51]).
Regarding claim 19. (Original) Sood, as modified by Kwak, teaches the method of claim 17, further comprising: receiving the indication from a Policy Control Function (PCF) (Sood, Fig. 2, pp [26]).
Regarding claim 20. (Original) Sood, as modified by Kwak, teaches the method of claim 19, further comprising:
determining, by the PCF, whether the UE is to terminate a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection established with a 5G Node B (gNB) and establish a RRC with an Evolved Node B (eNB) (Sood, Figs. 5A and 5B, pp [47]-[51]); and
forwarding, by the PCF, a result of the determination as a parameter value to the 4G core network component (Sood, Figs. 5A and 5B, pp [47]-[51]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUY C HO whose telephone number is (571)270-1108. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8AM-5PM.
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/HUY C HO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644