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 .
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 1–20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gupta et al. (US 2023/0319678 A1, hereinafter Gupta in view of Kheirkhah et al.( WO 2023/059932 A1 , hereinafter Kheirkhah”).
Regarding claim 1, Gupta discloses a user equipment (“UE”) for wireless communication, apparatus comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to:
a UE including processor and memory (Fig. 7; Fig. 12; ¶[0102]–[0104]) identify a first data flow that matches a first UE Route Selection Policy (URSP) rules identifying URSP rules and matching traffic flows using traffic descriptors (Fig. 10; Fig. 9; ¶[0090]–[0095])
wherein the first URSP rule indicates that the first data flow is to be transmitted over a non-3GPP access network (N3AN). Gupta discloses routing traffic based on URSP (Fig. 10; ¶[0090]–[0095]) AND routing/transmitting UE traffic (Fig. 10; ¶[0090]–[0095]) .
However, Gupta does not explicitly disclose routing to a non-3GPP access network, WLANSP, selection using WLANSP.
Kheirkhah discloses WLAN as non-3GPP access and UE operation across WLAN and cellular systems (¶[0040]–[0045]) the first URSP rule comprising a reference to a first WLANSP rule. WLANSP (WLAN Selection Policy) (acronym list; ¶[0015]) select a first N3AN by applying the first WLANSP rule
Guptadoes not disclose. Kheirkhah discloses WLAN selection using policy and selection among WLAN access points (¶[0055]–[0062]) transmit the first data flow via the selected N3AN(
WLAN communication/data transmission (¶[0055]–[0062])
. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Guptaand Kheirkhah to enable URSP-based routing of traffic over WLAN/non-3GPP access using WLAN selection policy, thereby improving traffic steering and multi-access efficiency (¶[0090]–[0095]; ¶[0055]–[0062])
Regarding claim 2,Gupta discloses wherein the URSP contains
comprises a traffic descriptor component used to identify the first data flow ( Fig. 9; ¶[0085]–[0090]) and a route selection description ("RSD") component Fig. 10; ¶[0090]–[0095]) . Gupta does not disclose wherein the RSD component comprises the reference to the first WLANSP rule.
Kheirkhah discloses wherein the RSD component comprises the reference to the first WLANSP rule (¶[0015]) . Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Guptaand Kheirkhah to enable URSP-based routing of traffic over WLAN/non-3GPP access using WLAN selection policy, thereby improving traffic steering and multi-access efficiency (¶[0090]–[0095]; ¶[0055]–[0062])
Regarding claim 3, Gupta discloses routing parameters for traffic (¶[0090]-¶[0095]). Gupta does not disclose wherein the RSD component further includes at least one connectivity parameter indicating that the first data flow is to be
routed through a Packet Data Unit ("PDU") session in a mobile communication network,
wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to register further
registers-with the mobile communication network over the selected N3AN. Kheirkhah discloses wherein the RSD component further includes at least one connectivity parameter indicating that the first data flow is to be
routed through a Packet Data Unit ("PDU") session in a mobile communication network,
wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to register further
registers-with the mobile communication network over the selected N3AN (¶[0040]-¶[0045]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Guptaand Kheirkhah to enable URSP-based routing of traffic over WLAN/non-3GPP access using WLAN selection policy, thereby improving traffic steering and multi-access efficiency (¶[0090]–[0095]; ¶[0055]–[0062]).
Regarding claim 4, Gupta does not disclose wherein to select selecting a N3AN by applying the first WLANSP rule, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to: comprises: deciding-decide_to select a trusted N3AN in response to the RSD component
containing-comprising at least one connectivity parameter;
identifying identify a first set of N3ANs that support 5G connectivity with the
mobile communication network; and applying apply the first WLANSP rule to select a N3AN from the first set of N3ANs. Kheirkhah discloses wherein to select selecting a N3AN by applying the first WLANSP rule, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to: comprises: deciding-decide_to select a trusted N3AN in response to the RSD component
containing-comprising at least one connectivity parameter;
identifying identify a first set of N3ANs that support 5G connectivity with the
mobile communication network; and applying apply the first WLANSP rule to select a N3AN from the first set of N3Ans (¶[0055]-¶[0062]). . Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Gupta and Kheirkhah to select from available N3Ans using WLANSP.
Regarding claim 5, Gupta does not disclose wherein to transmit transmitting the
first data flow via the selected N3AN, the at least one processor is configured to cause the
UE to: comprises: registering-register with the mobile communication network via the selected
N3AN; establishing establish a PDU session with the mobile communication network via
the selected N3AN using the at least one connectivity parameter; and transmitting transmit the first data flow over the PDU session. Kheirkhah discloses wherein to transmit transmitting the
first data flow via the selected N3AN, the at least one processor is configured to cause the
UE to: comprises: registering-register with the mobile communication network via the selected
N3AN; establishing establish a PDU session with the mobile communication network via
the selected N3AN using the at least one connectivity parameter; and transmitting transmit the first data flow over the PDU session (¶[0040]-¶[0045]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Gupta and Kheirkhah to perform registration and session establishment over N3AN.
Regarding claim 6, Gupta does not disclose wherein the RSD component further
includes an offload indication indicating that the first data flow is to be routed directly
through the selected N3AN without using a Packet Data Unit ("PDU") session in a
mobile communication network. Kheirkhah discloses wherein the RSD component further
includes an offload indication indicating that the first data flow is to be routed directly
through the selected N3AN without using a Packet Data Unit ("PDU") session in [[the]]a
mobile communication network (¶[0055]-¶[0067]. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Gupta and Kheirkhah to route traffic directly via WLAN.
Regarding claim 7, Gupta does not disclose wherein the first WLANSP rule
includes a set of validity conditions, and wherein to select selecting a N3AN by applying
the first WLANSP rule, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to ignore
comprises ignoring the validity conditions in response to the first URSP rule containing
comprising the reference to the first WLANSP rule. Kheirkhah discloses wherein the first WLANSP rule
includes a set of validity conditions (¶[0015]), and wherein to select selecting a N3AN by applying
the first WLANSP rule, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to ignore
comprises ignoring the validity conditions in response to the first URSP rule containing
comprising the reference to the first WLANSP rule (¶[0055]-¶[0062]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Gupta and Kheirkhah to incorporate WLANSP based selection parameters access preferences validity conditions and WLAN specific controls into the URSP based routing to enable routing of UE traffic over WLAN to improve efficiency in the multiaccess wireless communications systems.
Regarding claim 8, . Gupta discloses all subject matter of the inventio with the exception of wherein to indicate that the first data flow is to be transmitted over a N3AN, the first URSP rule indicates that the first data flow is to be transmitted over a N3AN by containing comprises one or more of: an access type preference equal to non-3GPP access; a multi-access preference indication; [[and]]
a non-seamless non-3GPP offload indication; or a combination thereof. Kheirkhah discloses wherein to indicate that the first data flow is to be transmitted over a N3AN, the first URSP rule indicates that the first data flow is to be transmitted over a N3AN by containing comprises one or more of: an access type preference equal to non-3GPP access; a multi-access preference indication; [[and]]
a non-seamless non-3GPP offload indication; or a combination thereof.
(¶[0015],¶[0055]-¶[0062]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Gupta and Kheirkhah to incorporate WLANSP based selection parameters access preferences validity conditions and WLAN specific controls into the URSP based routing to enable routing of UE traffic over WLAN to improve efficiency in the multiaccess wireless communications systems.
Regarding claim 9, Gupta does not disclose wherein to select selecting a
N3AN by applying the first WLANSP rule, the at least one processor is configured to
cause the UE to: comprises: applying apply the first WLANSP rule to select a N3AN from [[the]]a set of
available N3ANs; and skip a skipping the registration with a mobile communication network via
the selected N3AN in response to the RSD component containing comprising an offload indication. Kheirkhah discloses wherein to select selecting a
N3AN by applying the first WLANSP rule, the at least one processor is configured to
cause the UE to: comprises: applying apply the first WLANSP rule to select a N3AN from a set of
available N3ANs; and skip a skipping the registration with a mobile communication network via
the selected N3AN in response to the RSD component containing comprising an offload indication (¶[0055]-¶[0062]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Gupta and Kheirkhah to incorporate WLANSP based selection parameters access preferences validity conditions and WLAN specific controls into the URSP based routing to enable routing of UE traffic over WLAN to improve efficiency in the multiaccess wireless communications systems.
Regarding claim 10, Gupta does not disclose wherein the URSP rule is received
from a first mobile communication network and the WLANSP rules are received from a
second mobile communication network. Kheirkhah discloses wherein the URSP rule is received
from a first mobile communication network and the WLANSP rules are received from a
second mobile communication network (¶[0015]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Gupta and Kheirkhah to incorporate WLANSP based rules / access preferences validity conditions and WLAN specific controls into the URSP based routing to enable routing of UE traffic over WLAN to improve efficiency in the multiaccess wireless communications systems.
Regarding claim 11, Gupta disclosesbut does not disclose all subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of aprocessor for wireless communication, method of a User
Equipment ("UE"), the method comprising: at least one controller coupled with at least one memory and configured to cause the processor to: identify identifying a first data flow that matches a first UE Route Selection Policy ("URSP") rule, (identifying data flows and determining routing based on URSP (¶[0085]-¶[0095]). Gupta does not disclose wherein the first URSP rule indicates that the first data flow is to be transmitted over a non-3GPP access network ("N3AN"), the first URSP rule containing comprising a reference to a first Wireless Local Area Network Selection Policy ("WLANSP") rule; select selecting a first N3AN by applying the first WLANSP rule; and transmit transmitting the first data flow via the selected N3AN. Kheirkhah discloses wherein the first URSP rule indicates that the first data flow is to be transmitted over a non-3GPP access network ("N3AN"), the first URSP rule containing comprising a reference to a first Wireless Local Area Network Selection Policy ("WLANSP") rule; select selecting a first N3AN by applying the first WLANSP rule; and transmit transmitting the first data flow via the selected N3AN (¶[0055]–[0062]) . Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Gupta and Kheirkhah to enable URSP-based routing of traffic over WLAN/non-3GPP access using WLAN selection policy, thereby improving traffic steering and multi-access efficiency (¶[0090]–[0095]; ¶[0055]–[0062]).
Regarding claim 12, Gupta discloses traffic descriptior and routing information within URSP (¶[0085]-¶[0095]). Gupta does not disclose wherein the URSP contains comprises a traffic descriptor component used to identify the first route selection description ("RSD") component, wherein the RSD component contains comprises the reference to the first WLANSP rule. Kherirkhah discloses wherein the URSP contains comprises a traffic descriptor component used to identify the first route selection description ("RSD") component, wherein the RSD component contains comprises the reference to the first WLANSP rule(¶[0015]) . Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Guptaand Kheirkhah to enable URSP-based routing of traffic over WLAN/non-3GPP access using WLAN selection policy, thereby improving traffic steering and multi-access efficiency (¶[0090]–[0095]; ¶[0055]–[0062])
Regarding claim 13, Gupta does not disclose wherein the RSD component
further includes at least one connectivity parameter indicating that the first data flow is to
be routed through a Packet Data Unit ("PDU") session in a mobile communication
network, wherein the at least one controller is configured to cause the processor to
register the method further comprising registering with the mobile communication
network over the selected N3AN. Kheirkhah discloses wherein the RSD component
further includes at least one connectivity parameter indicating that the first data flow is to
be routed through a Packet Data Unit ("PDU") session in a mobile communication
network, wherein the at least one controller is configured to cause the processor to
register the method further comprising registering with the mobile communication
network over the selected N3AN (¶[0040]-¶[0045]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Guptaand Kheirkhah to enable URSP-based routing of traffic over WLAN/non-3GPP access using WLAN selection policy, thereby improving traffic steering and multi-access efficiency (¶[0090]–[0095]; ¶[0055]–[0062])
Regarding claim 14, Gupta discloses all subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein to select selecting a N3AN by applying the first WLANSP rule, the at least one controller is configured to cause the processor to: comprises: deciding decide to select a trusted N3AN in response to the RSD component containing comprising at least one connectivity parameter;
identifying identify a first set of N3ANs that support 5G connectivity with the
mobile communication network; and applying apply the first WLANSP rule to select a N3AN from the first set of N3Ans. Kheirkhah discloses wherein to select selecting a N3AN by applying the first WLANSP rule, the at least one controller is configured to cause the processor to: comprises: deciding decide to select a trusted N3AN in response to the RSD component containing comprising at least one connectivity parameter; (¶[0055]-¶[0062])
identifying identify a first set of N3ANs that support 5G connectivity with the
mobile communication network; and applying apply the first WLANSP rule to select a N3AN from the first set of N3Ans (¶[0055]-╢[0062]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Gupta and Kheirkhah to select from available N3Ans using WLANSP.
Regarding claim 15, Gupta discloses all subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein to transmit transmitting the first data flow via the selected N3AN, the at least one controller is configured to cause the processor to: comprises: registering register with the mobile communication network via the selected N3AN; establishing establish a PDU session with the mobile communication network via the selected N3AN using the at least one connectivity parameter; and
transmitting transmit the first data flow over the PDU session. Kheirkhah discloses wherein to transmit transmitting the first data flow via the selected N3AN, the at least one controller is configured to cause the processor to: comprises: registering register with the mobile communication network via the selected N3AN; establishing establish a PDU session with the mobile communication network via the selected N3AN using the at least one connectivity parameter; and
transmitting transmit the first data flow over the PDU session (¶[0040]-¶[0045]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Gupta and Kheirkhah to perform registration and session establishment over N3AN.
Regarding claim 16, Gupta discloses all subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein the RSD component
further includes an offload indication indicating that the first data flow is to be routed
directly through the selected N3AN without using a Packet Data Unit ("PDU") session in
[[the]]a mobile communication network. Kheirkhah discloses wherein the RSD component
further includes an offload indication indicating that the first data flow is to be routed
directly through the selected N3AN without using a Packet Data Unit ("PDU") session in
[[the]]a mobile communication network (¶[0055]-¶[0067]. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Gupta and Kheirkhah to route traffic directly via WLAN.
Regarding claim 17, Gupta discloses all subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein the first WLANSP rule includes a set of validity conditions, and wherein to select selecting a N3AN by applying the first WLANSP rule, the at least one controller is configured to cause the processor to ignore comprises ignoring the validity conditions in response to the first URSP rule
containing comprising the reference to the first WLANSP rule. Kheirkhah discloses wherein the first WLANSP rule includes a set of validity conditions, and wherein to select selecting a N3AN by applying the first WLANSP rule, the at least one controller is configured to cause the processor to ignore comprises ignoring the validity conditions in response to the first URSP rule
containing comprising the reference to the first WLANSP rule (¶[0085]-¶[0095]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Gupta and Kheirkhah to enable URSP-based routing of traffic over WLAN/non-3GPP access using WLAN selection policy, thereby improving traffic steering and multi-access efficiency (¶[0090]–[0095]; ¶[0055]–[0062])
Regarding claim 18, Gupta discloses all subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein to indicate that the first data flow is to be transmitted over a N3AN, the first URSP rule indicates that the first data flow is to be transmitted over a N3AN by containing comprises one or more of: an access type preference equal to non-3GPP access; a multi-access preference indication;
a non-seamless non-3GPP offload indication; or a combination thereof. Kheirkhah discloses wherein to indicate that the first data flow is to be transmitted over a N3AN, the first URSP rule indicates that the first data flow is to be transmitted over a N3AN by containing comprises one or more of: an access type preference equal to non-3GPP access; a multi-access preference indication;
a non-seamless non-3GPP offload indication; or a combination thereof (¶[0015]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Gupta and Kheirkhah to enable URSP-based routing of traffic over WLAN/non-3GPP access using WLAN selection policy, thereby improving traffic steering and multi-access efficiency (¶[0090]–[0095]; ¶[0055]–[0062])
Regarding claim 19, Gupta discloses all subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein to select selecting a N3AN by applying the first WLANSP rule, the at least one controller is configured to cause the processor to: comprises: applying apply the first WLANSP rule to select a N3AN from a set of available N3ANs; and skipping the skip a registration with [[the]]a mobile communication network via the selected N3AN in response to the RSD component containing
comprising an offload indication. Kheirkhah discloses wherein to select selecting a N3AN by applying the first WLANSP rule, the at least one controller is configured to cause the processor to: comprises: applying apply the first WLANSP rule to select a N3AN from a set of available N3ANs; and skipping the skip a registration with [[the]]a mobile communication network via the selected N3AN in response to the RSD component containing
comprising an offload indication (¶[0055]-¶[0062]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Gupta and Kheirkhah to enable URSP-based routing of traffic over WLAN/non-3GPP access using WLAN selection policy, thereby improving traffic steering and multi-access efficiency (¶[0090]–[0095]; ¶[0055]–[0062])
Regarding claim 20, Gupta discloses all subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein the URSP rule is received from a first mobile communication network and the WLANSP rules are received from a second mobile communication network. Kheirkhah discloses wherein the URSP rule is received from a first mobile communication network and the WLANSP rules are received from a second mobile communication network (¶[0015], ¶[0055]-¶[0062]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine Gupta and Kheirkhah to enable URSP-based routing of traffic over WLAN/non-3GPP access using WLAN selection policy, thereby improving traffic steering and multi-access efficiency (¶[0090]–[0095]; ¶[0055]–[0062])
-Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANGEL T BROCKMAN whose telephone number is (571)270-5664. The examiner can normally be reached 571-270-5664.
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/ANGEL T BROCKMAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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