DETAILED ACTION
This office action is a response to the application filed on 1/29/2024. Claims 1-20 are pending and ready for examination.
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 .
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.
Claims 1-8, 10-12 and 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chandrasekaran et al. (US 2022/0007175, hereinafter Chandrasekaran) in view of Jayawardena et al. (US 2020/0162994, hereinafter Jayawardena).
Regarding claim 1, Chandrasekaran discloses a device, comprising: a processing system including a processor; and a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising [Chandrasekaran discloses a view of client device (112) comprising a controller, a memory which has stored therein a program, a radio, etc. (Chandrasekaran Figure 2, paragraphs 0043, 0060-0065)]:
Obtaining a service set identifier (SSID) [Chandrasekaran discloses that a client device is able to receive Wi-Fi SSID as it is being broadcast from a gateway device (Chandrasekaran paragraph 0070)];
Determining, based on the obtaining of the SSID, that the SSID is linked to an access point name (APN) of a carrier, resulting in a first determination [Chandrasekaran discloses that the gateway device may broadcast SSID for APD (access point device) (Chandrasekaran paragraph 0070), which would imply that the SSID is related to an access point]; and
Obtaining, based on the first determination, access to a communication service of a network via the APN [Chandrasekaran discloses that the gateway device enables access point device to access external network (see Chandrasekaran paragraphs 0012 and 0070); indicating an access to a communication service of a network].
Although Chandrasekaran discloses that the gateway device ma broadcast SSID for APD (Chandrasekaran paragraph 0070), which would imply that the SSID is related to an access point; Chandrasekaran does not expressly disclose the features of determining, based on the obtaining of the SSID, that the SSID is linked to an access point name (APN) of a carrier, resulting in a first determination.
However, in the same or similar field of invention, Jayawardena discloses that an SSID-to-APN table may be used to translate the SSID into a corresponding APN for a cellular communication system (Jayawardena paragraph 0022). This is similar to the SSID being linked to an APN of a carrier, resulting in a first determination. Jayawardena further discloses that he SSID-to-APN table at the combined router/modem can provide differentiated routings, security, performance, and firewalls for different types of enterprise devices (Jayawardena paragraph 0044); and devices with different applications may connect to different APN (Jayawardena paragraph 0045). This also indicates that based on the determination of SSID to APN, communication service of a network may be accessed via the APN.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chandrasekaran to have the features of determining, based on the obtaining of the SSID, that the SSID is linked to an access point name (APN) of a carrier, resulting in a first determination; and obtaining, based on the first determination, access to a communication service of a network via the APN; as taught by Jayawardena. The suggestion/motivation would have been to provide efficient and scalable routing techniques in the network (Jayawardena paragraph 0038).
Regarding claim 2, Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena disclose the device of claim 1. Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena further disclose wherein the obtaining of the SSID comprises obtaining the SSID from a gateway or a router [Chandrasekaran discloses that the gateway device may broadcast SSID for APD (access point device) (Chandrasekaran paragraph 0070)]. In addition, the same motivation is used as the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 3, Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena disclose the device of claim 2. Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena further disclose wherein the gateway or the router is located in a building [Chandrasekaran Figure 1A discloses a communication system where a gateway device 108 is located at a consumer premises (Chandrasekaran Figure 1A, paragraph 0031)]. In addition, the same motivation is used as the rejection of claim 2.
Regarding claim 4, Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena disclose the device of claim 3. Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena further disclose wherein the building includes a residence, and wherein the residence is connected to network or system resources via a fiber link [Chandrasekaran Figure 1A discloses a communication system where a gateway device 108 is located at a consumer premises which may be a residential dwelling (Chandrasekaran Figure 1A, paragraph 0031). Content from service provider may be received by known methods such as terrestrial antenna, optical fibers, etc. (Chandrasekaran paragraph 0052)]. In addition, the same motivation is used as the rejection of claim 3.
Regarding claim 5, Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena disclose the device of claim 1. Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena further disclose wherein the network includes the Internet [Chandrasekaran discloses that the gateway device enables access point device to access external network (see Chandrasekaran paragraphs 0012 and 0070). Gateway device may allow data flow from one network to another which can be a WLN to an external network, e.g. the internet (Chandrasekaran paragraph 0032)]. In addition, the same motivation is used as the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 6, Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena disclose the device of claim 1. Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena further disclose wherein the obtaining of the access to the communication service comprises establishing a communication session [Chandrasekaran discloses that the onboarding process may enable APD to establish an open onboarding SSID with gateway device and with connection to the external network; and enable APD to establish a Wi-Fi onboarding SSID with client device (e.g. establishing a communication session) (Chandrasekaran paragraph 0106)]. In addition, the same motivation is used as the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 7, Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena disclose the device of claim 6. Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena further disclose wherein the communication session includes a data session [Chandrasekaran discloses that the onboarding process may enable APD to establish an open onboarding SSID with gateway device and with connection to the external network; and enable APD to establish a Wi-Fi onboarding SSID with client device (Chandrasekaran paragraph 0106). Gateway device may allow data flow from one network to another which can be a WLN to an external network, e.g. the internet (Chandrasekaran paragraph 0032). This would indicate establishing a data session. Jayawardena also discloses that devices with different applications may connect to different APN (Jayawardena paragraph 0045); and the communication system may be used to provide wireless voice and data services to mobile (Jayawardena paragraph 0047)]. In addition, the same motivation is used as the rejection of claim 6.
Regarding claim 8, Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena disclose the device of claim 1. Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena further disclose wherein the obtaining of the access to the communication service of the network is further based on the device successfully completing an authentication procedure [Chandrasekaran discloses that once the APD has logged on to the network, it is determined whether the user is authenticated (Chandrasekaran paragraph 0156). Jayawardena also discloses that authorization and authentication procedures may be used to ensure network’s operation and data integrity (Jayawardena paragraphs 0098 and 0100)]. In addition, the same motivation is used as the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 10, Chandrasekaran discloses a non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising [Chandrasekaran discloses a gateway device (Figure 2), comprising a controller, a memory with an onboarding program, a radio , etc. (Chandrasekaran paragraph 0044, Figure 2). In some cases, the controller, memory, and interface circuit may be implemented as a computer having a non-transitory computer-readable medium (Chandrasekaran paragraph 0045)]:
transmitting a first service set identifier (SSID) associated with a first cellular carrier [Chandrasekaran discloses that a client device is able to receive Wi-Fi SSID as it is being broadcast from a gateway device (Chandrasekaran paragraph 0070)]; and
subsequent to, and based on, the transmitting of the first SSID, routing first communication traffic obtained from a first user equipment to first network resources, the first network resources being associated with a first access point name (APN) of the first cellular carrier [Chandrasekaran discloses that the gateway device may broadcast SSID for APD (access point device) (Chandrasekaran paragraph 0070), which would imply that the SSID is related to an access point. Chandrasekaran Further discloses that after joining open onboarding SSID, APD is able to wirelessly communicate with client device using the SSID, i.e. routing first communication traffic between a client device and network (see Chandrasekaran paragraphs 0135-0136, Figure 6)].
Chandrasekaran does not expressly disclose the features of transmitting a SSID associated with a first cellular carrier; and the first network resources being associated with a first access point name (APN) of the first cellular carrier.
However, in the same or similar field of invention, Jayawardena discloses that an SSID-to-APN table may be used to translate the SSID into a corresponding APN for a cellular communication system (Jayawardena paragraph 0022). Jayawardena further discloses that the devices with different application may connect to different APN; APN based service selection may provide scaling, and DNS and name authority resource types can be used to select the SGWs and PGWs for routing differentiations (Jayawardena paragraph 0045). Thus, a network resource is being associated with APN of the cellular carrier which provides the service to the client.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chandrasekaran to have the features of transmitting a SSID associated with a first cellular carrier; and the first network resources being associated with a first access point name (APN) of the first cellular carrier; as taught by Jayawardena. The suggestion/motivation would have been to provide efficient and scalable routing techniques in the network (Jayawardena paragraph 0038).
Regarding claim 11, Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena disclose the non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10. Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena further disclose wherein the operations further comprise: routing second communication traffic obtained from the first network resources to the first user equipment [Jayawardena discloses that the network (e.g. Jayawardena Figure 2B) may include a combined Wi-Fi router and cellular modem. This combined router/modem may support cellular communications with one or more nodes of the guided wave system connected to the EPC. The combined router/modem may assign different SSIDs to handle multiple types of devices (Jayawardena paragraph 0042). In some examples, each device sharing a common SSID can share a common APN (Jayawardena paragraph 0043). As shown in the Figure 2B, the traffic may be exchanged between various IoT devices to other devices base on SSID and APN. This is similar to routing a second communication traffic (e.g. from a second user or client) from a first network resources to the first user]. In addition, the same motivation is used as the rejection of claim 10.
Regarding claim 12, Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena disclose the non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11. Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena further disclose wherein the second communication traffic originates from a second user equipment [Jayawardena discloses that the network (e.g. Jayawardena Figure 2B) may include a combined Wi-Fi router and cellular modem. This combined router/modem may support cellular communications with one or more nodes of the guided wave system connected to the EPC. The combined router/modem may assign different SSIDs to handle multiple types of devices (Jayawardena paragraph 0042). In some examples, each device sharing a common SSID can share a common APN (Jayawardena paragraph 0043). As shown in the Figure 2B, the traffic may be exchanged between various IoT devices to other devices base on SSID and APN. This is similar to the second communication traffic originating from a second user or client]. In addition, the same motivation is used as the rejection of claim 11.
Regarding claim 14, Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena disclose the non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10. Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena further disclose wherein the transmitting of the first SSID comprises broadcasting the first SSID [Chandrasekaran discloses that the gateway device may broadcast SSID for APD (access point device) (Chandrasekaran paragraph 0070)]. In addition, the same motivation is used as the rejection of claim 10.
Regarding claim 15, Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena disclose the non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10. Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena further disclose wherein the operations further comprise: transmitting a second SSID associated with the first cellular carrier; and subsequent to, and based on, the transmitting of the second SSID, routing second communication traffic obtained from a second user equipment to the first network resources [Jayawardena discloses that the combined router/modem may assign a set of SSIDs to each of the devices to multiple types of IoT devices or computer devices (Jayawardena paragraphs 0042); and each of the SSIDs may be mapped to an APN on the cellular side (Jayawardena paragraph 0043); indicating that a communication traffic may be obtained from a second user to the first resource. Jayawardena claim 7 also discloses that a message may be received which may include a second SSID]. In addition, the same motivation is used as the rejection of claim 10.
Regarding claim 16, Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena disclose the non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15. Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena further disclose wherein the first network resources are associated with a second APN of the first cellular carrier, the second APN being different from the first APN [Jayawardena discloses that the combined router/modem may assign a set of SSIDs to each of the devices to multiple types of IoT devices or computer devices (Jayawardena paragraphs 0042); and each of the SSIDs may be mapped to an APN on the cellular side (Jayawardena paragraph 0043). In some cases, the APN approach is used to allow the use to connect to various networks by associating APNs with PGWs (Jayawardena paragraph 0040); which indicates that the second APN being different from the first APN]. In addition, the same motivation is used as the rejection of claim 15.
Claim 9 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chandrasekaran in view of Jayawardena, and further in view of Belghoul et al. (US 2020/0008007, hereinafter Belghoul.
Regarding claim 9, Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena disclose the device of claim 8. Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena do not expressly disclose wherein the authentication procedure is based on a validation of a credential associated with a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card.
However, in the same or similar field of invention, Belghoul discloses that a device may include additional SIM/eSIM in addition to a main SIM, and the provisioning server may use certificates for SIM/eSIM provisioning and may act as a trusted third party for the purpose of authenticating the entities of the network (Belghoul paragraph 0151).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena to have the features of wherein the authentication procedure is based on a validation of a credential associated with a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card; as taught by Belghoul. The suggestion/motivation would have been to provide support in mobile devices for scalable neutral host, improved device mobility and efficiently connect with and operate on new networks (Belghoul paragraphs 0002 and 0007).
Regarding claim 13, Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena disclose the non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 12. Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena further disclose that an access point name may be included in a set of access point names of a cellular communication system (Jayawardena paragraph 0021). Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena do not expressly disclose wherein the second user equipment obtains access to communication services via a second cellular carrier that is different from the first cellular carrier.
However, in the same or similar field of invention, Belghoul discloses that cellular communication circuitry may be configured for multiple RATs – e.g. a first RAT could be LTE/LTE-A, and a second may be 5G NR (Belghoul paragraphs 0136 and 0139). Thus, a use may obtain access to communication services via a second cellular carrier that is different from the first.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chandrasekaran and Jayawardena to have the features of wherein the second user equipment obtains access to communication services via a second cellular carrier that is different from the first cellular carrier; as taught by Belghoul. The suggestion/motivation would have been to provide support in mobile devices for scalable neutral host, improved device mobility and efficiently connect with and operate on new networks (Belghoul paragraphs 0002 and 0007).
Claims 17 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chauhan et al. (US 2021/0029584, hereinafter Chauhan) in view of Jayawardena et al. (US 2020/0162994, hereinafter Jayawardena).
Regarding claim 17, Chauhan discloses a method comprising: obtaining, by a processing system including a processor, a transmission of a first service set identifier (SSID) [Chauhan discloses that a Wi-Fi connection manager client with use of access network detection/selection management object for managing SSIDs based on IP pool information received in the management object (Chauhan paragraph 0047); indicating a first SSID transmission];
determining, by the processing system, whether the first SSID corresponds to a second SSID that is stored by the processing system and is linked to an access point name (APN) of a cellular carrier, resulting in a determination [Chauhan discloses that the connection manager client may identify an access point where each access point is associated with a user-defined SSID (i.e. a second SSID) which may be stored at the UE (Chauhan paragraph 0064)].
Chauhan does not expressly disclose the features of the second SSID being linked to an access point name (APN) of a cellular carrier, and obtaining by the processing system, access to a communication service via first network resources of the cellular carrier when, in accordance with the determination, the first SSID corresponds to the second SSID that is stored by the processing system and is linked to the APN of the cellular carrier.
However, in the same or similar field of invention, Jayawardena discloses that a router may receive a message with a device/application specific SSID. The SSID can be previously configured by the router in response to determining a MAC address of the device. The SSID can be derived from a set of SSID for a WLAN managed by the router. The router may access and SSID to APN table to determine if the SSID is present, and if the SSID is found (i.e. the determination that the first SSID corresponds to the SSID that is stored), the router may return the corresponding APN and may transmit cellular messages to a communication node (i.e. the SSID is linked to the APN of the cellular carrier). (Jayawardena paragraph 0067). An SSID-to-APN table may be used to translate the SSID into a corresponding APN for a cellular communication system (Jayawardena paragraph 0022).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chauhan to have the features of the second SSID being linked to an access point name (APN) of a cellular carrier, and obtaining by the processing system, access to a communication service via first network resources of the cellular carrier when, in accordance with the determination, the first SSID corresponds to the second SSID that is stored by the processing system and is linked to the APN of the cellular carrier; as taught by Jayawardena. The suggestion/motivation would have been to provide efficient and scalable routing techniques in the network (Jayawardena paragraph 0038).
Regarding claim 19, Chauhan and Jayawardena disclose the method of claim 17. Chauhan and Jayawardena further disclose wherein the obtaining of the transmission of the first SSID comprises obtaining the transmission of the first SSID from a customer premises equipment (CPE) [Chauhan discloses that a Wi-Fi connection manager client with use of access network detection/selection management object for managing SSIDs based on IP pool information received in the management object. The present invention encompasses identifying one or more Wi-Fi access names (SSIDs), by discovering and learning Wi-Fi access network(s) in a customer's premises where the customer may have defined a customized SSID on the Wi-Fi AP (Chauhan paragraph 0047)]. In addition, the same motivation is used as the rejection of claim 17.
Regarding claim 20, Chauhan and Jayawardena disclose the method of claim 17. Chauhan and Jayawardena further disclose wherein the communication service involves a data communication session [Jayawardena discloses that devices with different applications may connect to different APN (Jayawardena paragraph 0045); and the communication system may be used to provide wireless voice and data services to mobile (Jayawardena paragraph 0047)]. In addition, the same motivation is used as the rejection of claim 17.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 18 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.
Claim 18 would be allowable because the closest prior art, either alone or in combination, fails to anticipate or render obvious the features of obtaining, by the processing system, access to the communication service via second network resources of a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) network when, in accordance with the determination, the first SSID does not correspond to the second SSID that is stored by the processing system and is linked to the APN of the cellular carrier; in combination with all other limitations in the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/SAUMIT SHAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414