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 .
Response to Amendment
The following is a final office action in response to applicant’s amendment filed on 01/08/2026 for response of the office action mailed on 10/08/2025. Claims 1, 9 and 11 are amended. Claims 4-7 and 10 are cancelled. Claims 1-3, 8-9 and 11 are pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to Claims 1-3, 8-9 and 11 filed 01/08/26 have been considered but are not persuasive/are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Argument(s) regarding IMES:
IMES consistently teaches altering operating conditions of end devices…which are clearly not ",gateway equipment providing the interface between a wide area network and a local area network" as recited in pending Claim 1.
Thus, IMES does not teach or suggest, unlike pending Claim 1 (emphasis added), "a method for activating at least one functionality of gateway equipment providing the interface between a wide area network and a local area network [..]".
The Office Action indicates that it "interprets the controller activating network devices [0027] - see gateways) at a site using the location data as activating at least one functionality of gateway equipment)". However, paragraph [0061] of IMES clearly recites that such "networks devices" are for example "a thermostat or a smart appliance", a smart appliance being, for example a HVAC or a hot water heater (see paragraph [0206]). Such devices do not belong to the category of gateway equipment providing an interface between a wide area network and a local area network.
In paragraph [0027] of IMES mentioned by the Office, a "media gateway" or "smart energy gateway" are listed (among many others), as devices that may be included in an "energy management system, network device, or any combination thereof'(such "media gateway" or "smart energy gateway" never are mentioned elsewhere in IMES). However, such devices are never clearly presented in IMES as gateway equipment that would provide an interface between a wide area network and a local area network (being a "gateway" doesn't mean by nature providing an interface between a wide area network and a local area network).
Besides, IMES does not teach nor suggest the limitations of amended Claim 1 according to which the (emphasis added) "method for activating at least one functionality of gateway equipment providing the interface between a wide area network and a local area network" pertains to a "functionality being related to a provision or a configuration of the local area network"
(IMES does not disclose even a single feature that would be associated with a "media gateway" or "smart energy gateway").
In other words, IMES describes a WIFI network as a local area network, but unlike Claim 1, IMES never teaches nor suggests modifying a functionality related to a provision or a configuration of such local area network.
Thus, many differences exist between Applicant's recited method and the teachings of IMES, and amended Claim 1 is clearly not anticipated by IMES.
Response regarding IMES: Examiner has considered the applicant’s arguments/remarks and respectfully disagrees. Due to the amendments made on independent claims 1, 9 and 11, the Office no longer relies on IMES and instead introduces Phuah et al. (US 2008/0137673), titled “Remote Management of Network Devices”. Phuah teaches a method for remote management of LAN devices by modifying gateway configuration(s) (e.g., port forwarding) from a remote ACS. The invention relates to systems and/or methods that may receive an activation inform message associated with a LAN device, and may perform a set parameter value (SPV) operation to add a new connection request port forwarding entry in a gateway device associated with the LAN device. Once the connection request port forwarding entry is established in the gateway device, a connection request operation to a destined LAN device may be routed accordingly using the port forwarding entry (¶0013, Phuah). In ¶0028, the ACS 120 (in which Examiner interprets as electronic device”), in conjunction with OSS 110, may determine whether to use either the port forwarding approach described herein or the STUN approach for remote management (e.g., activating and/or de-activating) of a particular LAN device (e.g., LAN device 140). OSS 110 may receive device activation message 335, and may instruct ACS 120 to use the port forwarding approach, via a use port forwarding instruction 340. ACS 120 may send a set port forwarding rule 345 (e.g., that may add a new port forwarding entry associated with LAN device 140) to gateway device 130.
Argument(s) regarding Karr:
Indeed, KARR merely recites various techniques for determination of a geographic location of a mobile terminal, and is completely silent regarding gateway equipment, LAN/WAN interfaces, or activation of functionalities being related to a provision or a configuration of the local area network.
Nothing in KARR teaches or suggests using location information to trigger remote "activation, via the wide area network, of the at least one functionality" of a gateway equipment "related to the provision or the configuration of the local area network," as recited in amended Claim 1 (emphasis added).
KARR merely provides a generic location estimation technique and does not provide any teaching or motivation to modify IMES in the manner proposed by the Office.
Response regarding Karr: Examiner has considered the applicant’s arguments and respectfully disagrees. To address triggering remote activation, via the wide area network, of the at least one functionality of a gateway equipment, related to the provision or the configuration of the local area network, Examiner previously introduced Phuah, which in ¶0059, along with the other cited portions, teaches if the connection request operation is successfully forwarded by gateway device 130 to LAN device 140, LAN device 140 may activated for remote management by ACS 120. In one example, ACS 120 may remotely manage by auto-configuring LAN device 140 for advanced services in a known manner). Karr’s invention (US 2003/0222819), titled “Locating a Mobile Station Using a Plurality of Wireless Networks and Applications Therefor” relates to a location system for commercial wireless telecommunication infrastructures based on a plurality of mobile station locating technologies including those based on: (1) two-way TOA and TDOA; (2) home base stations and (3) distributed antenna provisioning. In ¶0313, Karr describes locating a mobile device when it is near a home base station device (HBSD), where the system in Karr receives data that the mobile station is in the vicinity of a specific, known HBSD, rather than relying on other systems, where the HBSD data is used to pinpoint the user’s location, which represents geographical proximity of the mobile communication terminal with the gateway equipment.
To address the claim limitation “the geographic proximity of the mobile communication terminal with the gateway equipment being established by the electronic device when the location information data is in the form of data representative of a current attachment of the mobile communication terminal to at least one previously determined reference relay antenna of a cellular network,” ¶0081 of Karr describes a method of locating a mobile phone (mobile communication terminal) within a network that uses a distributed antenna system (DAS), where the invention uses location data provided by a DAS to locate a mobile phone. The system understands the mobile station is connected to a specific, localized antenna within a DAS network and receives the data from the base station infrastructure that tells it which specific distributed antenna the mobile device is communicating with through signal characteristic values. The motivation to combine with Phuah is for determining wireless location of a mobile device in close proximity, in which the claim requires through location data.
Lastly, in response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show non-obviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
Applicant is reminded that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See in re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR international Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
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.
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 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 non-obviousness.
Claims 1, 3, 9 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Phuah et al. (US 2008/0137673), Phuah hereinafter, and further in view of Karr et al. (US 2003/0222819), Karr hereinafter.
Re. Claim 1, Phuah teaches a method for activating at least one functionality of gateway equipment providing the interface between a wide area network and a local area network, (Fig. 1, 3-4, 6-7 & ¶0015 - OSS 110, ACS 120, gateway device 130, and/or LAN device 140 may connect to network 150 via wired and/or wireless connections. ¶0020 - Network 150 may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) … or a combination of networks. ¶0056 - As illustrated in FIG. 7, process 700 may begin with receipt of an activation inform message associated with a LAN device (block 710), and verification of a gateway device and/or the LAN device based on an IP address in the activation inform message (block 720));
the functionality being related to a provision or a configuration of the local area network, (¶0013 - Implementations described herein may use port forwarding rules in a gateway device (e.g., a NAT-enabled gateway device) to provide a connection request operation (e.g., initiated by an auto-configuration server) a way to reach a device (e.g., a LAN device) attached to the gateway device. ¶0059 - In one example, ACS 120 may remotely manage by auto-configuring LAN device 140 for advanced services in a known manner);
wherein the method comprises, at an electronic device connected to the wide area network, an activation via the wide area network of the at least one functionality related to the provision or the configuration of the local area network, (¶0028 - In one implementation, ACS 120 (“Examiner interprets as electronic device”), in conjunction with OSS 110, may determine whether to use either the port forwarding approach described herein or the STUN approach for remote management (e.g., activating and/or de-activating) of a particular LAN device (e.g., LAN device 140). OSS 110 may receive device activation message 335, and may instruct ACS 120 to use the port forwarding approach, via a use port forwarding instruction 340. ACS 120 may send a set port forwarding rule 345 (e.g., that may add a new port forwarding entry associated with LAN device 140) to gateway device 130. ¶0059 - If the connection request operation is successfully forwarded by gateway device 130 to LAN device 140, LAN device 140 may activated for remote management by ACS 120. In one example, ACS 120 may remotely manage by auto-configuring LAN device 140 for advanced services in a known manner);
Yet, Phuah does not explicitly teach in response to location information from at least one mobile communication terminal referenced to the gateway equipment being representative of a geographic proximity of the mobile communication terminal with the gateway equipment, the geographic proximity of the mobile communication terminal with the gateway equipment being established by the electronic device when the location information data is in the form of data representative of a current attachment of the mobile communication terminal to at least one previously determined reference relay antenna of a cellular network.
However, in the analogous art, Karr explicitly teaches in response to location information from at least one mobile communication terminal referenced to the gateway equipment being representative of a geographic proximity of the mobile communication terminal with the gateway equipment, (Fig. 2, 17, 20 & ¶0313 - Upon receiving a message from the Data Capture Gateway or the signal processing subsystem 20, the HBS location estimate model examines a Home Base Station Table… to further define the location within the address area of the fixed location HBSD. The following table … is used by the HBS model to determine location whenever the mobile station 140 is located within communication range of the HBSD… Examiner interprets the HBSD as the gateway equipment);
the geographic proximity of the mobile communication terminal with the gateway equipment being established by the electronic device when the location information data is in the form of data representative of a current attachment of the mobile communication terminal to at least one previously determined reference relay antenna of a cellular network (Fig. 2 & ¶0081 - Accordingly, the present invention receives and utilizes location information communicated from distributed antenna systems for locating a target mobile station. That is, the present invention may receive information from the base station infrastructure indicating that a target mobile station is communicating with such a distributed antenna system and provide distributed antenna signal characteristic values related to the distributed antenna system. … to process such target mobile station location signal data, the present invention includes a distributed antenna system for generating target mobile station location estimate derived from the location signal data obtained from the distributed antenna system. Please also see ¶0248 and ¶0313).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Karr to the teaching of Phuah. The motivation would be because the invention provides a system and method for determining wireless location using one or more commercial mobile radio telecommunication systems (Karr, ¶0043).
Re. Claim 3, Phuah and Karr teach Claim 1.
Yet, Phuah does not explicitly teach the location information is in the form of data indicative of proximity, received by the electronic device from the communication terminal, confirming the geographic proximity of the mobile communication terminal with the gateway equipment.
However, in the analogous art, Karr explicitly teaches the location information is in the form of data indicative of proximity, received by the electronic device from the communication terminal, confirming the geographic proximity of the mobile communication terminal with the gateway equipment (Fig. 2, 17, 20 & ¶0272 - This enhanced capability is provided via a control message, sent from the Location system 42 to the mobile switch center 12, and then to the base station(s) 122 (FIG. 2) in communication with, or in close proximity with, mobile stations 140 to be located. ¶0203 - Consider the case wherein an mobile station 140 whose location is to be tracked constantly … This sixth message type provides a notification message from the home location register to the location system 42 whenever a previously identified mobile station MIN has a state change. Examples of a state changes include cases where the base station 122 discovers the mobile station 140 has traveled to another base station, or that the current primary base station 122 can no longer communicate with the mobile station 140 (i.e., no power), or that a new registration has occurred … Specifically these include power-up, power-down, timer-based, distance-based, zone-based, parameter-change, ordered, implicit and traffic channel registration).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Karr to the teaching of Phuah. The motivation would be because the invention provides a system and method for determining wireless location using one or more commercial mobile radio telecommunication systems (Karr, ¶0043).
Re. Claim 9, Phuah teaches an electronic device for activating at least one functionality of gateway equipment providing an interface between a wide area network and a local area network, (Fig. 1, 3-4, 6-7 & ¶0015 - OSS 110, ACS 120, gateway device 130, and/or LAN device 140 may connect to network 150 via wired and/or wireless connections. ¶0020 - Network 150 may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) … or a combination of networks. ¶0056 - As illustrated in FIG. 7, process 700 may begin with receipt of an activation inform message associated with a LAN device (block 710), and verification of a gateway device and/or the LAN device based on an IP address in the activation inform message (block 720));
the electronic device being connected to the wide area network (Please see ¶0015 and ¶0020 (ACS 120 and Network 150) and the functionality being related to a provision or a configuration of the local area network, (¶0013 - Implementations described herein may use port forwarding rules in a gateway device (e.g., a NAT-enabled gateway device) to provide a connection request operation (e.g., initiated by an auto-configuration server) a way to reach a device (e.g., a LAN device) attached to the gateway device. ¶0059 - In one example, ACS 120 may remotely manage by auto-configuring LAN device 140 for advanced services in a known manner);
wherein the electronic device comprises a processor configured for activating the at least one functionality related to the provision or the configuration of the local area network, (¶0028 - In one implementation, ACS 120 (“Examiner interprets as electronic device”), in conjunction with OSS 110, may determine whether to use either the port forwarding approach described herein or the STUN approach for remote management (e.g., activating and/or de-activating) of a particular LAN device (e.g., LAN device 140). OSS 110 may receive device activation message 335, and may instruct ACS 120 to use the port forwarding approach, via a use port forwarding instruction 340. ACS 120 may send a set port forwarding rule 345 (e.g., that may add a new port forwarding entry associated with LAN device 140) to gateway device 130. ¶0059 - If the connection request operation is successfully forwarded by gateway device 130 to LAN device 140, LAN device 140 may activated for remote management by ACS 120. In one example, ACS 120 may remotely manage by auto-configuring LAN device 140 for advanced services in a known manner);
Yet, Phuah does not explicitly teach in response to location information from at least one mobile communication terminal referenced to the gateway equipment being representative of a geographic proximity of the mobile communication terminal with the gateway equipment, the geographic proximity of the mobile communication terminal with the gateway equipment being established by the electronic device when the location information data is in the form of data representative of a current attachment of the mobile communication terminal to at least one previously determined reference relay antenna of a cellular network.
However, in the analogous art, Karr explicitly teaches in response to location information from at least one mobile communication terminal referenced to the gateway equipment being representative of a geographic proximity of the mobile communication terminal with the gateway equipment, (Fig. 2, 17, 20 & ¶0313 - Upon receiving a message from the Data Capture Gateway or the signal processing subsystem 20, the HBS location estimate model examines a Home Base Station Table… to further define the location within the address area of the fixed location HBSD. The following table … is used by the HBS model to determine location whenever the mobile station 140 is located within communication range of the HBSD… Examiner interprets the HBSD as the gateway equipment);
the geographic proximity of the mobile communication terminal with the gateway equipment being established by the electronic device when the location information data is in the form of data representative of a current attachment of the mobile communication terminal to at least one previously determined reference relay antenna of a cellular network (Fig. 2, 17, 20 & ¶0081 - Accordingly, the present invention receives and utilizes location information communicated from distributed antenna systems for locating a target mobile station. That is, the present invention may receive information from the base station infrastructure indicating that a target mobile station is communicating with such a distributed antenna system and provide distributed antenna signal characteristic values related to the distributed antenna system. … to process such target mobile station location signal data, the present invention includes a distributed antenna system for generating target mobile station location estimate derived from the location signal data obtained from the distributed antenna system. Please also see ¶0248 and ¶0313).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Karr to the teaching of Phuah. The motivation would be because the invention provides a system and method for determining wireless location using one or more commercial mobile radio telecommunication systems (Karr, ¶0043).
Re. Claim 11, Phuah teaches a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising a computer program stored thereon, comprising program code instructions for executing a method (Fig. 2 & ¶0017 - ACS 120 may include one or more server entities, or other types of computation or communication devices, that gather, process, search, and/or provide information in a manner described herein. In one implementation, ACS 120 may include a server (e.g., a computer system or an application) responsible for auto-configuration of customer premises equipment (e.g., LAN device 140) for advanced services) for activating at least one functionality of gateway equipment providing the interface between a wide area network and a local area network, (Fig. 1, 3-4, 6-7 & ¶0015 - OSS 110, ACS 120, gateway device 130, and/or LAN device 140 may connect to network 150 via wired and/or wireless connections. ¶0020 - Network 150 may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) … or a combination of networks. ¶0056 - As illustrated in FIG. 7, process 700 may begin with receipt of an activation inform message associated with a LAN device (block 710), and verification of a gateway device and/or the LAN device based on an IP address in the activation inform message (block 720));
when the computer program is executed by a processor, the functionality being related to a provision or a configuration of the local area network, the method comprising, (¶0013 - Implementations described herein may use port forwarding rules in a gateway device (e.g., a NAT-enabled gateway device) to provide a connection request operation (e.g., initiated by an auto-configuration server) a way to reach a device (e.g., a LAN device) attached to the gateway device. ¶0059 - In one example, ACS 120 may remotely manage by auto-configuring LAN device 140 for advanced services in a known manner);
at an electronic device connected to the wide area network, an activation via the wide area network of the at least one functionality related to the provision or the configuration of the local area network, (¶0028 - In one implementation, ACS 120 (“Examiner interprets as electronic device”), in conjunction with OSS 110, may determine whether to use either the port forwarding approach described herein or the STUN approach for remote management (e.g., activating and/or de-activating) of a particular LAN device (e.g., LAN device 140). OSS 110 may receive device activation message 335, and may instruct ACS 120 to use the port forwarding approach, via a use port forwarding instruction 340. ACS 120 may send a set port forwarding rule 345 (e.g., that may add a new port forwarding entry associated with LAN device 140) to gateway device 130. ¶0059 - If the connection request operation is successfully forwarded by gateway device 130 to LAN device 140, LAN device 140 may activated for remote management by ACS 120. In one example, ACS 120 may remotely manage by auto-configuring LAN device 140 for advanced services in a known manner);
Yet, Phuah does not explicitly teach in response to location information from at least one mobile communication terminal referenced to the gateway equipment being representative of a geographic proximity of the mobile communication terminal with the gateway equipment, the geographic proximity of the mobile communication terminal with the gateway equipment being established by the electronic device when the location information is in the form of data representative of a current attachment of the mobile communication terminal to at least one previously determined reference relay antenna of a cellular network.
However, in the analogous art, Karr explicitly teaches in response to location information from at least one mobile communication terminal referenced to the gateway equipment being representative of a geographic proximity of the mobile communication terminal with the gateway equipment, (Fig. 2, 17, 20 & ¶0313 - Upon receiving a message from the Data Capture Gateway or the signal processing subsystem 20, the HBS location estimate model examines a Home Base Station Table… to further define the location within the address area of the fixed location HBSD. The following table … is used by the HBS model to determine location whenever the mobile station 140 is located within communication range of the HBSD… Examiner interprets the HBSD as the gateway equipment);
the geographic proximity of the mobile communication terminal with the gateway equipment being established by the electronic device when the location information is in the form of data representative of a current attachment of the mobile communication terminal to at least one previously determined reference relay antenna of a cellular network (Fig. 2, 17, 20 & ¶0081 - Accordingly, the present invention receives and utilizes location information communicated from distributed antenna systems for locating a target mobile station. That is, the present invention may receive information from the base station infrastructure indicating that a target mobile station is communicating with such a distributed antenna system and provide distributed antenna signal characteristic values related to the distributed antenna system. … to process such target mobile station location signal data, the present invention includes a distributed antenna system for generating target mobile station location estimate derived from the location signal data obtained from the distributed antenna system. Please also see ¶0248 and ¶0313).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Karr to the teaching of Phuah. The motivation would be because the invention provides a system and method for determining wireless location using one or more commercial mobile radio telecommunication systems (Karr, ¶0043).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Phuah and Karr, and further in view of Fontaine et al. (FR-3006529A1), Fontaine hereinafter.
Re. Claim 2, Phuah and Karr teach Claim 1.
Yet, Phuah and Karr do not explicitly teach the functionality belongs to a group comprising: an exit from a sleep state of the gateway equipment; and an activation of at least one wireless access point at the gateway equipment.
However, in the analogous art, Fontaine explicitly teaches the functionality belongs to a group comprising: an exit from a sleep state of the gateway equipment (Page 7, ¶6 - The gateway can, for example, detect the presence of the terminal in the cell via its WiFi module (or alternatively Bluetooth, Zigbee, etc.) and therefore give the order to wake up the radio access point); and an activation of at least one wireless access point at the gateway equipment (Page 4, ¶2 - The invention makes it possible to remedy this situation by transmitting to the access point appropriate commands for taking into account or refusing a connection, putting on standby, deactivating, activating the access point, and so on…. the invention relates to a device for managing the state of a radio access point of a radio cell of a radio telecommunications network, the access point being able to accept the connection of mobile radio terminals).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Fontaine to the teachings of Phuah and Karr. The motivation would be because the invention relates to a configuration of a base station, or access point, of a cellular mobile radio telecommunication network (Page 1, Description ¶2, Fontaine).
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Phuah and Karr, and further in view of Hampel et al. (US 2018/0288823), Hampel hereinafter.
Re. Claim 8, Phuah and Karr teach Claim 1.
Yet, Phuah and Karr do not explicitly teach the at least one previously determined reference relay antenna is determined automatically based on an address associated with the gateway equipment or based on a prior identification of at least one relay antenna to which the mobile communication terminal is attached when the mobile communication terminal is connected to a wireless local area network provided by the gateway equipment.
However, in the analogous art, Hampel explicitly discloses the at least one previously determined reference relay antenna is determined automatically based on an address associated with the gateway equipment or based on a prior identification of at least one relay antenna to which the mobile communication terminal is attached when the mobile communication terminal is connected to a wireless local area network provided by the gateway equipment (Fig. 2 & ¶0065 - … coverage area 205 associated with base station 105-b may be expanded (e.g., such that UE 115-b may communicate with the CN 130-a through base station 105-b) using multi-hop relay technique. As described above, base station 105-b … may communicate with relay 220-a via wireless backhaul 225-a. Fig. 2 & ¶0048 - The proposed techniques allow each relay to autonomously connect to a donor (or anchor) node using a packet data unit (PDU) Session Request procedure that resembles the procedure used by a UE to connect to a base station. When integrated, the relay may provide gNB functionality as well as gateway (GW) functionality… Fig. 2 & ¶0004 - For the support of wireless backhauling, it may be desirable to enable new relays to autonomously attach to already-integrated relays (e.g., by reusing existing packet data network (PDN) connectivity establishment procedures, and thereby obtaining network connectivity (e.g., data network (DN) connectivity) to the donor).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Hampel to the teachings of Phuah and Karr. The motivation would be because in some cases, a UE may experience poor communication with a network access device, and the network access device may configure the UE to connect to, and route communications through, one or more relays (¶0004, Hampel).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALYSSA WILLIAMS whose telephone number is (571)270-7673. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8-5pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayman Abaza can be reached on (571) 270-0422. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALYSSA WILLIAMS/Examiner, Art Unit 2465B /AYMAN A ABAZA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465