DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to applicant's communication filed on 02/15/2024, wherein:
Claim 1-20 are pending.
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.
Claim 1, 7-8, 10, 15-17, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iovieno (US 20110096669 A1) in view of Hyytiainen (US 20160112847 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Iovieno discloses one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing one or more computer programs (¶0065) for performing paging for User Equipment (UE) devices, the one or more computer programs configured to cause at least one processor to:
send, by a Network Function (NF) that facilitates Lawful Intercept (LI) (Fig. 3 – ADMD and LEMF), a tracking request to an NF that manages access and mobility (Fig. 5 – MME) for UE devices (Fig. 5 step 20-21 and ¶00407 – “An agency activates Lawful Interception of the user equipment UE attached to the Evolved Packet Core, requiring also location information to be reported, by an activation message 20,21, according to the prior art. The activation message 20,21 is hereby sent from the Law Enforcement Monitoring Facility LEMF to the Mobility Management Entity MME”);
responsive, by the NF that manages access and mobility for the UE devices, to receiving the tracking request, determine a Tracking Area in which a UE device is registered; page, by the NF that manages access and mobility for the UE devices, cell sites of the Tracking Area without subsequently sending additional data pertaining to voice, text message, or data services for the UE device itself (Fig 5 step 24-25 and ¶0050-0052 : “[0050] The MME sends 24 a paging message to each eNodeB belonging to the tracking areas A1, A2 in which the User Equipment is registered. The UE is paged by the eNodeBs. [0051] The User Equipment UE initiates a Service Request procedure by sending a NAS message Service Request 25 towards the MME. [0052] Upon receiving the Non-Access Stratum NAS message Service Request 25, the MME detects 26 user location information with high resolution i.e. information that comprises the user's location with higher resolution than TAI list/TA”); obtain, by the NF that manages access and mobility for the UE devices, a Cell Identifier (Cell-ID) of a current cell that the UE device is in (¶0052 – “Upon receiving the Non-Access Stratum NAS message Service Request 25, the MME detects 26 user location information with high resolution i.e. information that comprises the user's location with higher resolution than TAI list/TA”); and
provide, by the NF that manages access and mobility for the UE devices, the obtained Cell-ID to the NF that facilitates LI (Fig. 5 and ¶0054 – “According to the invention, the high resolution information message of the user's location within the tracking area A1 is sent 27,28 towards the Law Enforcement Monitoring Facility LEMF. The resolution information message is hereby sent 27 from the MME to the DF2/MF2 on the X2 interface and sent 28 from the DF2/MF2 to the LEMF on the interface HI2”).
However, the reference is silent on details about (1) performing paging for User Equipment (UE) devices in idle mode and page, by the NF that manages access and mobility for the UE devices, cell sites of the Tracking Area to cause the UE device to transition from idle mode to active mode.
Hyytiainen discloses performing paging for User Equipment (UE) devices in idle mode and page, by the NF that manages access and mobility for the UE devices, cell sites of the Tracking Area to cause the UE device to transition from idle mode to active mode (abstract, Fig. 2 and ¶0023 - “the server S3 calls the Paging API 220, which is an API service of the MME that triggers a paging procedure without requiring any interaction from the PGW and SGW to move the subscriber device UE1 state from IDLE to ACTIVE”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before effective filing date of the claimed the invention, to modify the invention of Iovieno to incorporate paging for UE to transition from idle to active state from Hyytiainen because doing so would apply a known technique to a known device (method, or product) ready for improvement to yield predictable results (MPEP §2141 -III) to utilize well known technique for waking up UE in idle state.
Regarding claim 7, the combined teaching of Iovieno and Hyytiainen discloses the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the paging of the cell sites of the Tracking Area comprises performing the paging without providing an indication to a user of the UE device that the transition occurred (Iovieno - “[0050] The MME sends 24 a paging message to each eNodeB belonging to the tracking areas A1, A2 in which the User Equipment is registered. The UE is paged by the eNodeBs. [0051] The User Equipment UE initiates a Service Request procedure by sending a NAS message Service Request 25 towards the MME. [0052] Upon receiving the Non-Access Stratum NAS message Service Request 25, the MME detects 26 user location information with high resolution i.e. information that comprises the user's location with higher resolution than TAI list/TA”, which indicated that the paging does not cause any notification since there is no subsequent communication to UE).
Regarding claim 8, the combined teaching of Iovieno and Hyytiainen discloses the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer programs are configured to cause the at least one processor to: periodically repeat, by the NF that manages access and mobility for the UE devices, the steps of claim 1 to provide tracking updates to the NF that facilitates LI (the scope and content of claim 8 recites a repetitive step of claim 1, therefore, being addressed as claim 1).
Regarding claim 10, the scope and content of the claim recites one or more computing systems, comprising: memory storing computer program instructions for performing paging for User Equipment (UE) devices in idle mode; and at least one processor configured to execute the computer program instructions with similar scope with the computer program stored in the non-transitory computer readable media of claim 1, therefore, being addressed as in claim 1.
Regarding claim 15, the scope and content of the claim recites one or more computing systems, comprising: memory storing computer program instructions for performing paging for User Equipment (UE) devices in idle mode; and at least one processor configured to execute the computer program instructions with similar scope with the computer program stored in the non-transitory computer readable media of claim 7, therefore, being addressed as in claim 7.
Regarding claim 16, the scope and content of the claim recites one or more computing systems, comprising: memory storing computer program instructions for performing paging for User Equipment (UE) devices in idle mode; and at least one processor configured to execute the computer program instructions with similar scope with the computer program stored in the non-transitory computer readable media of claim 8, therefore, being addressed as in claim 8.
Regarding claim 17, the scope and content of the claim recites a computer-implemented method performed by instructions stored in the computer readable media of claim 1, therefore, being addressed as in claim 1.
Regarding claim 20, the scope and content of the claim recites a computer-implemented method performed by instructions stored in the computer readable media of claim 7, therefore, being addressed as in claim 7.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iovieno (US 20110096669 A1) in view of Hyytiainen (US 20160112847 A1) and Yang et al. (US 20190037383 A1).
Regarding claim 9, the combined teaching of Iovieno and Hyytiainen discloses the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, however, silent on further details of claim 9.
Yang discloses wherein the one or more computer programs are configured to cause the at least one processor to: update, by the NF that manages access and mobility for the UE devices, an identifier of the Tracking Area after the UE device moves into a new Tracking Area (¶0006- “When the user moves outside her allocated TA, her UE must perform a Tracking Area Update (TAU) with the MME of the new TA”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before effective filing date of the claimed the invention, to modify the invention of Iovieno and Hyytiainen to incorporate tracking area update with MME upon moving from Yang because doing so would make use of known technique to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way (MPEP §2141 -III) to provide the most up-to-date tracking area corresponding to new location of UE.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2-6, 11-14, and 18-19 are 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.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DUNG HONG whose telephone number is (571)270-7928. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, JINSONG HU, can be reached on (571) 272-3965. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DUNG HONG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643
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