DETAILED ACTION
RCE
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 04/30/2026 has been entered.
Response to Remark
This communication is considered fully responsive to the amendment filed on 04/30/26.
Independent claims have been amended.
Claims 3-5, 10-12, 16, 17, 19, and 20 have been canceled.
New claims 21-24 have been added.
The previous 103 rejection over Hahn in view of Lu and Youn has been replaced with a new 103 rejection over Hahn in view of Youn and Duan.
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 of this title, 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, 2, 6, 8, 9, 13, 15, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hahn et al. (US 2013/0344890, “Hahn”) in view of Youn et al. (US 2018/0376384, hereinafter “Youn”; provisional of 62/443,838 filed on Jan. 9, 2017, hereinafter “Prov’838 of Youn”) and further in view of Duan et al. (US 2019/0261233, “Duan”).
Regarding claim 1, Hahn discloses a method for operating a User Equipment (UE), wherein the UE is served by source Mobility Management Entity (MME) function in an Evolved Packet System (EPS) network (See 30 Fig.2, MME in EPC network; See ¶.37, the UE may be registered in multiple tracking areas. All the tracking areas in the tracking area list to which the UE is registered are served by the same serving MME), and requires to register a target Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) function in a 5G network (Examiner’s Note: Hahn does not show AMF in a 5G network, but Youn discloses the limitations (See ¶.7) by performing a first interworking procedure for changing a network of the UE from a 5G core network to an evolved packet core (EPC) network; receiving a first indication from an access and mobility management function (AMF) of the 5GC network; and performing a handover attach procedure in the EPC network based on the first indication; See ¶.14, performing a registration procedure in the 5GC network based on the second indication; See ¶.218, the AMF supports functions, such as signaling between CN nodes for mobility between 3GPP access networks, NAS signaling security (NAS ciphering and integrity protection), AS security control, registration area management), the method comprising:
- Integrity protecting an EPS Non-Access Stratum (NAS) message using information shared between the UE and the source MME function in the EPS network (Hahn, See ¶.83, the TAU Request message shall be integrity protected by the NAS-MAC. The NAS-MAC is included if the UE has valid EPS security parameters; See ¶.85, the UE validated indicates that the new MME has validated the integrity protection of the TAU message, e.g. based on native EPS security context for the UE).
Hahn does not explicitly disclose what Youn discloses,
- generating a 5G registration request message that requests registration of the UE with the target AMF function in the 5G network, wherein the 5G registration request message is generated to contain the integrity protected EPS NAS message (Youn, See ¶.375, a UE needs to register a network in order to receive service that requests registration. Once the UE is registered, the UE may update its own registration with the network in order to periodically maintain reachability (periodical registraion update) if applicable, upon moving (mobility registration update); See ¶.8, the performing of the first interworking procedure may include, when the interface between the 5GC and the EPC networks exists, not receiving the first indication from the AMF, and performing a tracking area update (TAU) procedure in the EPC network; See ¶.318, the RRC sublayer performs the broadcasting of system information related to an access stratum (AS) and a non-access stratum (NAS); paging initiated by 5GC or an NG-RAN; See ¶.419, the procedure of releasing the NAS signaling connection is initiated by a 5G (R)AN node or the AMF; Examiner’s Note: Duan discloses the limitation “a 5g registration request message”); and
- sending the integrity protected EPS NAS message to the source MME function via the target AMF function, wherein the sending includes sending the 5G registration request message with the integrity protected EPS NAS message contained therein to the target AMF function (Hahn, See 3 Fig.7 and ¶.83, sending, to the MME, the TAU request message being integrity protected by the NAS; Examiner’s Note: Youn discloses the method of performing of the first interworking procedure may include, when the interface between the 5GC and the EPC networks exists and performing a tracking area update (TAU) procedure in the EPC network (Youn, See ¶.8); See Prov’838 of Youn, Interworking between EPC and 5GC (NGC), NGC UE sends EPC NAS to source MME and then the target AMF via an interface of NGx as shown below;
PNG
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Hahn does not explicitly disclose what Youn further discloses “the integrity protected EPS NAS message contained therein to the target AMF function in 5G network (Youn, See ¶.7, performing a first interworking procedure for changing a network of the UE from a 5G core network to an evolved packet core (EPC) network; receiving a first indication from an access and mobility management function (AMF) of the 5GC network; and performing a handover attach procedure in the EPC network based on the first indication; See ¶.14, performing a registration procedure in the 5GC network based on the second indication; See ¶.218, the AMF supports functions, such as signaling between CN nodes for mobility between 3GPP access networks, NAS signaling security (NAS ciphering and integrity protection), AS security control, registration area management; Prov’838 of Youn, See Pg.48, a connect between MME in EPC network and AMF in NGC network via interface NGx and 5g UE sends EPC NAS message as shown the Figure above).
Hahn and Youn disclose the method of sending the integrity protecting an EPS NAS message, but silent the limitation “5G registration request message.” However, Duan discloses “5G registration request message (Duan, See ¶.209, the Registration Request is a 5G registration/attach request message and may include a 5G initial registration (Initial Registration)/attach request (Attach Request) message or a 5G tracking area update request (Tracking Area Update Request) message. The Registration Request carries parameters, such as a first identifier (for example, an IMSI or a temporary identity of the 5G UE) of the UE, and description information of a 5G NSI to which the UE requests to access).”
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply the method of sending “5G registration request message” as taught by Duan into the system of Hahn and Youn, so that it provides a way of handing over a terminal in an inter-networking between 5G and 4G (Duan, See ¶.4 and ¶.6).
Regarding claim 2, Hahn discloses “wherein integrity protecting the integrity protected the EPS NAS message comprises integrity protecting the EPS NAS message with a Message Authentication Code (MAC) generated with the information shared between the UE and the source MME function, wherein the information is at least a part of an Evolved Packet System (EPS) security context (See ¶.83, the TAU Request message shall be integrity protected by the NAS-MAC. The eKSI, the NAS sequence number and the NAS-MAC are included if the UE has valid EPS security parameters. The NAS sequence number indicates the sequential number of the NAS message. The KSI is included if the UE indicates a GUTI mapped from a P-TMSI in the information element "old GUTI"; See Fig.7, TAU request message between UE and MME; See ¶.82, EPS bearer status, packet temporary mobile subscriber identity (P-TMSI) signature, additional GUTI, evolved key set identity (eKSI), NAS sequence number, NAS-MAC and KSI).”
Regarding claim 6, Hahn and Duan disclose “the integrity protected message is a Tracking Area Update (TAU) request message, such that the 5G Registration Request message contains the TAU request message as integrity (Hahn, See ¶.83, the TAU Request message shall be integrity protected by the NAS-MAC; Duan, See ¶.209, 5G registration request message as rejected in claim 1).” Therefore, this claim is rejected with the similar reasons and motivation set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 8, it is a user equipment claim corresponding to the method claim 1 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim.
Regarding claims 9 and 13, they are claims corresponding to claims 2 & 6, respectively and are therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claims.
Regarding claim 15, Hahn discloses “wherein the information shared between the UE and the source MME function is at least part of a security context shared between the UE and the source MME function, wherein the security context is an EVP Nas security context (See ¶.85, the UE validated indicates that the new MME has validated the integrity protection of the TAU message, e.g. based on native EPS security context for the UE; See Fig.7).”
Regarding claim 18, it is a claim corresponding to the claim 15 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim.
Claims 21 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hahn in view of Youn and Duan and further in view of Janakiraman et al. (US 2012/0155324, “Janakiraman”).
Regarding claim 21, Hahn, Youn, and Duan do not explicitly disclose what Janakiraman discloses “wherein the EPS NAS message is an Attach Request message (Janakiraman, See 206 Fig.2, UE send EPS NAS attach request to MME).” Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply “wherein the EPS NAS message is an Attach Request message” as taught by Janakiraman into the system of Hahn, Youn, and Duan, so that it provides a way of identifying the MME (Janakiraman, See ¶.32).
Regarding claim 23, it is a claim corresponding to the claim21 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim
Claims 22 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hahn in view of Youn and Duan and further in view of Suh et al. (US 2011/0142239, “Suh”).
Regarding claim 22, Duan discloses the 5G Registration Request message is generated” as rejected in claim 1, but Hahn, Youn, and Duan do not explicitly disclose what Suh discloses “contain one or more parameters that the source MME function in the EPS network cannot parse (Suh, See ¶.74, If it is impossible to acquire the security-related parameter from the old MME, the new MME fails message interpretation).” Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply the method of “containing one or more parameters that the source MME function in the EPS network cannot parse” as taught by Suh into the system of Hahn, Youn, and Duan, so that it provides a way for the new MME determines whether it has the security parameter for the UE (Suh, ¶.74).
Regarding claim 24, it is a claim corresponding to the claim 22 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim
Allowable Subject Matters
Claims 7 and 14 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed have been considered. But, in view of the applicant’s amendment to the claims, examiner has clarified and totally remapped the rejection to the argued claim limitations, using newly found prior art by Duan. The previous 103 rejection has been replaced with a new ground of 103 rejection over Hahn in view of Youn and further in view of Duan.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jung H Park whose telephone number is 571-272-8565. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 7:00 AM-3:00 PM.
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/JUNG H PARK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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