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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on July 2, 2024, was filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent No. 10,820,202 (hereinafter “Gundavelli”).
Regarding claim 1, Gundavelli teaches: An apparatus for a network node acting as a gateway entity of a second communication network (e.g., WLC 120) providing access to a first communication network (e.g., CTF 125) being different to the second communication network, the apparatus comprising at least one processor (e.g., 514), and at least one memory (e.g., 516) storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive a registration request of a user equipment for a registration to the first communication network via the second communication network (6:21-26, At 170, UE 105 may respond with an indication of the cellular identifier used by UE 105 to communicate with cellular AP 115, and authentication server 130 may obtain the indication (e.g., via WLAN AP 110(1) and WLC 120).), wherein the registration request comprises an anonymized subscriber identification element (8:56-61, UE 105 may be identified using a Subscription Concealed Identifier (SUCI) for 5G connectivity and/or an IMSI for 4G connectivity.), obtain a temporary identification for the user equipment (9:20-22, The certificate may include a stable/permanent/unique identifier), and forward the temporary identification for the user equipment to the user equipment (9:20-24, The certificate may include a stable/permanent/unique identifier and the public key, and may be signed by authentication server 130. Using MDM protocol, authentication server 130 may deliver the certificate, and the public/private key to UE 105.).
Regarding claim 2, Gundavelli teaches: forward the temporary identification for the user equipment to the user equipment in a secured signaling message (9:21-22, and may be signed by authentication server 130.).
Regarding claim 3, Gundavelli teaches: generate, for obtaining the temporary identification for the user equipment, the temporary identification for the user equipment by combining at least one of the following: an identification element of the network node acting as the gateway entity of the second communication network, a contact information of the network node acting as the gateway entity of the second communication network, or a random number with at least one of the following: a pre-selected number, or a randomly generated number (9:15-17, For instance, authentication server 130 may generate a certificate (e.g., an X.509-based certificate), as is well known in the art, before the priority date, X.509 certificates can use a nonce to prevent replay attacks – See OCSP Extensions within Non-patent Literature entitled, “X.509 Reference” <https://web.archive.org/web/20201005184807/https://cryptography.io/en/latest/x509/reference/>).
Regarding claim 4, Gundavelli teaches: receive, for obtaining the temporary identification for the user equipment, the temporary identification for the user equipment from a network node of the first communication network, after forwarding the registration request of the user equipment to the network node of the first communication network (9:29-34, Any time UE 105 connects over a WLAN or a cellular network, UE 105 may present this certificate, which includes a unique identifier of UE 105.).
Regarding claim 5, Gundavelli teaches: wherein the temporary identification for the user equipment is received in response to a request sent to the network node of the first communication network to be provided with the temporary identification for the user equipment (6:52-59, In this case, at 190, CTF 125 may respond to the initial attach message (e.g., via cellular AP 115) with a N1/Non-Access Stratum (NAS) identity request to obtain an indication of the cellular identifier of UE 105).
Regarding claim 6, Gundavelli teaches: include the temporary identification for the user equipment in a contact information set of the gateway entity being sent to the user equipment (9:19-22, The certificate may include a stable/permanent/unique identifier and the public key, and may be signed by authentication server 130.).
Regarding claim 7, Gundavelli teaches: conduct a key exchange procedure with the user equipment wherein the temporary identification for the user equipment is used as an identification element of the user equipment (9:29-34, Authentication server 130 may obtain one or more parameters of the certificate from UE 105 and generate the CUI using the certificate on both Wi-Fi and cellular access.).
Regarding claim 8, Gundavelli teaches: store the temporary identification for the user equipment in context information of the user equipment (7:42-47, authentication server 130 uses the previously existing/generated CUI associated with UE 105 for further communications between UE 105 and WLAN AP 110(1) or 110(2). Thus, the same CUI may be associated with the WLAN session and the cellular session.).
Regarding claim 9, Gundavelli teaches: receive, from a second access point of the second communication network providing access to the second communication network for the user equipment, the temporary identification for the user equipment having been connected to a first access point of the second communication network, and correlate a communication session to the user equipment via the second access point by using the temporary identification for the user equipment when receiving a message from the user equipment including the temporary identification for the user equipment (7:9-18, Authentication server 130 may thus correlate multiple sessions (e.g., WLAN and/or cellular) to identify UE 105 across the multiple sessions. This may enable NPF 135 to obtain visibility of sessions originating from UE 105. In response to determining that UE 105 is attempting to communicate over cellular AP 115, authentication server 130 (and/or other network entities such as NPF 135) may enforce one or more network policies for UE 105 that were also applied to the WLAN session(s) (e.g., relating to bandwidth usage, blacklisting, mobility, segmentation, etc.).
Regarding claim 10, Gundavelli teaches: wherein the first communication network is a cellular communication network based on 3GPP specifications (cellular AP 115), and the second communication network is a trusted non-3GPP access communication network (WLAN AP 110(1)).
Regarding claim 11, Gundavelli teaches: wherein the network node is a trusted non-3GPP gateway function (WLAN AP 110(2)).
Regarding claim 12, Gundavelli teaches: A method for a network node acting as a gateway entity of a second communication network (e.g., WLC 120) providing access to a first communication network (e.g., CTF 125) being different to the second communication network, the method comprising receiving a registration request of a user equipment for a registration to the first communication network via the second communication network (6:21-26, At 170, UE 105 may respond with an indication of the cellular identifier used by UE 105 to communicate with cellular AP 115, and authentication server 130 may obtain the indication (e.g., via WLAN AP 110(1) and WLC 120).), wherein the registration request comprises an anonymized subscriber identification element (8:56-61, UE 105 may be identified using a Subscription Concealed Identifier (SUCI) for 5G connectivity and/or an IMSI for 4G connectivity.), obtaining a temporary identification for the user equipment (9:20-22, The certificate may include a stable/permanent/unique identifier), and forwarding the temporary identification for the user equipment to the user equipment (9:20-24, The certificate may include a stable/permanent/unique identifier and the public key, and may be signed by authentication server 130. Using MDM protocol, authentication server 130 may deliver the certificate, and the public/private key to UE 105.).
Regarding claim 13, Gundavelli teaches: forwarding the temporary identification for the user equipment to the user equipment in a secured signaling message (9:21-22, and may be signed by authentication server 130.).
Regarding claim 14, Gundavelli teaches: generating, for obtaining the temporary identification for the user equipment, the temporary identification for the user equipment by combining at least one of the following: an identification element of the network node acting as the gateway entity of the second communication network, a contact information of the network node acting as the gateway entity of the second communication network, or a random number with at least one of the following: a pre-selected number, or a randomly generated number (9:15-17, For instance, authentication server 130 may generate a certificate (e.g., an X.509-based certificate), as is well known in the art, before the priority date, X.509 certificates can use a nonce to prevent replay attacks – See OCSP Extensions within Non-patent Literature entitled, “X.509 Reference” <https://web.archive.org/web/20201005184807/https://cryptography.io/en/latest/x509/reference/>).
Regarding claim 15, Gundavelli teaches: receiving, for obtaining the temporary identification for the user equipment, the temporary identification for the user equipment from a network node of the first communication network, after forwarding the registration request of the user equipment to the network node of the first communication network (9:29-34, Any time UE 105 connects over a WLAN or a cellular network, UE 105 may present this certificate, which includes a unique identifier of UE 105.).
Regarding claim 16, Gundavelli teaches: wherein the temporary identification for the user equipment is received in response to a request sent to the network node of the first communication network to be provided with the temporary identification for the user equipment (6:52-59, In this case, at 190, CTF 125 may respond to the initial attach message (e.g., via cellular AP 115) with a N1/Non-Access Stratum (NAS) identity request to obtain an indication of the cellular identifier of UE 105).
Regarding claim 17, Gundavelli teaches: including the temporary identification for the user equipment in a contact information set of the gateway entity being sent to the user equipment (9:19-22, The certificate may include a stable/permanent/unique identifier and the public key, and may be signed by authentication server 130.).
Regarding claim 18, Gundavelli teaches: wherein the first communication network is a cellular communication network based on 3GPP specifications (cellular AP 115), and the second communication network is a trusted non-3GPP access communication network (WLAN AP 110(1)).
Regarding claim 19, Gundavelli teaches: wherein the network node is a communication network control element or a communication network control function (CTF 125).
Regarding claim 20, Gundavelli teaches: wherein the network node is a trusted non-3GPP gateway function (WLAN AP 110(2)).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Publication No. 2020/0396000 (Ryu) related to Non-Access Stratum Connection Handling
Non-patent Literature entitled, “X.509 Reference” <https://web.archive.org/web/20201005184807/https://cryptography.io/en/latest/x509/reference/>
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/JAB/ Examiner, Art Unit 2643 /JINSONG HU/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2643