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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed July 14, 2026 have been fully considered but they are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection presented below
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
In light of Applicants amendment, the rejection under 35 USC 112 is withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5,9, 10, 11, 13-22, 24, 26, 27, 29-32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by SIVAVAKEESAR et al (WIPO 2018/084070) (hereinafter WIPO’070).
Referring to claim 1, WIPO’070 discloses an apparatus (i.e. base station) of a radio access network (RAN) node for wireless communication (e.g. abstract), comprising: one or more memories (Fig. 3 ref 59); and
one or more processors (Fig. 3 ref 57), coupled to the one or more memories, configured to:
transmit an indication to a core network (CN) node (MME 9 and S-GW 10) to retain a first identifier for a user equipment (UE) after release of a radio resource control (RRC) connection of the UE (para 40 and 79, message from base station 5b also indicates that paging is requested without triggering a release of the mobile devices’ bearer, indicating that the resources and identifier is retained);
release the RRC connection of the UE (para 40: base station sends UE Context Release Request to tear down existing S1 connection; also see para 80 showing S1 connection moved from ECM-CONNECTED to ECM-IDLE; also see paras 38,49-50 which discusses suspended bearers and reactivating suspended bearers on new base stations); and
transmit, based at least in part on the transmission of the indication, a request to the CN node to initiate paging for the UE, the request including the first identifier of the UE (para 79: base station generates and sends S1 signaling message requesting MME to initiate S1 based paging procedures; also see Fig. 5 and para 23).
Regarding claim 2, WIPO’070 teaches wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the request to the CN node, are configured to transmit the request to the CN node based at least in part on a determination that the UE is an entity of a repeater node (para 75-76: mobile device is considered “an entity of” anchor base station 5b as the mobile device was connected to anchor base station 5b which will send the UE Context Release Request upon determination that the device does not respond to paging requests).
Regarding claim 3, WIPO’070 teaches transition the UE to an RRC-IDLE state to release the RRC connection (para 80: ECM-IDLE; also see para 38).
Regarding claim 5 WIPO’070 teaches receiving, from the CN node, a context setup message for the UE prior to releasing the RRC connection; and select the CN node for transmitting the request based at least in part on the context setup message, wherein the request is transmitted to the CN node based at least in part on a receipt of the context setup message (Fig. 5 S510-S516 shows UE Context Release command sent from MME9 to request to forward data together with TEID of new eNB base station. Once SN status transfer and data transfer is completed, the UE Context is released from the anchor eNB).
Regarding claim 9, WIPO’070 teaches establishing a Next Generation application protocol (NGAP) connection with the CN node associated with the UE after releasing the RRC connection of the UE, wherein the request to initiate the paging for the UE is transmitted via the NGAP connection (Fig. 5, S504 and S505 send UE context Release Request requesting S1-Paging to CN node).
Regarding claims 10 and 11, WIPO’070 teaches the first identifier of the UE comprises one or more of: a Next Generation application protocol (NGAP) UE identifier, a pair of NGAP UE identifiers, a system architecture evolution (SAE) temporary mobile subscriber identity (S- TMSI), or a temporary mobile subscriber identity (TMSI) (para 120: T-IMSI is used).
Regarding claim 13, WIPO’070 discloses receiving the identifier of the UE from the CN node (Fig. 5 ref. S510: Anchor eNB receives UE Context Release command with UE identifier along with new eNB ID to forward data).
Regarding claims 14-16, WIPO’070 discloses receiving an additional request from the CN to page the UE based at least on part on transmitting the request, wherein the additional request includes an additional identifier of the UE, which is the same as the first identifier (Fig. 5, ref. S507 paging request is received from CN to page a UE).
Claims 17-22, 24, 26, 27, 29-32 are rejected for similar reasons as stated above.
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 8, 12, 25, 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WIPO’070.
Regarding claim 8, WIPO’070 discloses transmitting the indication to the CN node to retain an identifier for a UE, and transmitting an indication to the CN node to release the identifier for a UE (para 44, trigger release of access bearer towards S-GW), it does not explicitly disclose a second/additional UE. However one of ordinary skill in the art would clearly understand utilizing the system with multiple UE devices and applying the techniques of the first UE describe above to the second UE and It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system of WIPO’070 to include at least one additional UE.
Claims 12, 25, 28 are rejected for similar reasons as stated above. Furthermore WIPO’070 discloses transmitting a paging message to a UE to reestablish the RRC connection of the UE (Fig. 5, ref S503).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WIPO’070 in view of Orsino et al. (USPGPUB 2025/0227662) (hereinafter Orsino).
Regarding claim 4 WIPO’070 discloses the invention as described above. While WIPO’070 does disclose the base station releasing the connection, it does not explicitly disclose the RAN node transmitting an RRC release message to the UE. IN analogous art, Orsino discloses another RAN node (gNB 106) which, after transmitting a paging request to CN to page target relay UE, will transmit an RRC release message to the UE (Fig. 7 ref 718 and para 149, gNB sending a release message to release the remote UE to RRC_IDLE or RRC_Inactive). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine Orsino with WIPO’070 in order to provide an efficient method to communicate with a relay UE since the gNB does not have any direct signaling to the relay UE (see para 2).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WIPO’070 in view of Abedini et al. (USPN 12328689) (hereinafter Abedini).
Regarding claim 7, WIPO’070 teaches the invention as described above. While WIPO’070 discloses the RAN node retains a NGAP connection with the CN node associated with the UE based in part of transmitting an indication (see rejections above), it does not explicitly disclose that the indication is an indication that the UE comprises, or is comprised in, a repeater. In analogous art, Abedini discloses indicating to the base station that the device is a repeater device (e.g. abstract). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine Abedini with WIPO’070 in order to allow repeater devices of Abedini to communicate and schedule communication with repeater devices as appropriate.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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JOSEPH E. AVELLINO
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2478
/JOSEPH E AVELLINO/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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