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
No priority claims have been filed. Therefore, the effective filing date for the claims is 19 March 2024.
Response to Amendment
Claim 16 has a claim status of “New” and also includes underlined text. The examiner will interpret the underlined text to be part of the new claim language.
See 37 CFR 1.121—"(2) When claim text with markings is required. All claims being currently amended in an amendment paper shall be presented in the claim listing, indicate a status of ‘currently amended,’ and be submitted with markings to indicate the changes that have been made relative to the immediate prior version of the claims. The text of any added subject matter must be shown by underlining the added text. The text of any deleted matter must be shown by strike-through except that double brackets placed before and after the deleted characters may be used to show deletion of five or fewer consecutive characters. The text of any deleted subject matter must be shown by being placed within double brackets if strike-through cannot be easily perceived. Only claims having the status of ‘currently amended,’ or ‘withdrawn’ if also being amended, shall include markings.”
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 9, filed 03 August 2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-6 and 8-13 under 35 USC 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive in view of the new claim amendments. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Faccin et al. (US 2016/0286600 A1) and Pan et al. (US 2026/0059474 A1).
See the 35 USC 103 section below for a detailed analysis.
First examiner note: There is not an explicit technical definition for “modular NAS”. Therefore, “modular NAS” may be interpreted to include a system that calls the NAS layer an “NAS module” as in the disclosure of Pan et al. (US 2026/0059474 A1). Therefore, Pan teaches a “modular NAS”. The examiner suggests clarifying in the independent claims how the “modular NAS” of the claimed invention differs from a system that utilizes an NAS module in accordance with the original disclosure.
Second examiner note: The examiner further suggests clarifying what the “subsequent payload”, “subsequent NAS sublayer”, “subsequent encryption”, “subsequent encrypted payload”, “subsequent network function”, “subsequent container”, “subsequent temporary identifier”, and “subsequent routing information” are subsequent to in the independent claims in accordance with the original disclosure.
Third examiner note: The examiner also suggests clarifying the structure of the “first message”, “first container”, and “second container” in the independent claims in accordance with the original disclosure.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-6 and 8-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Faccin et al. (US 2016/0286600 A1) in view of Pan et al. (US 2026/0059474 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Faccin teaches a method, comprising:
receiving a plurality of non access stratum (NAS) payloads at an access stratum (AS) layer, e.g., the RRC layer handles broadcasted system information related to the access stratum and transport of non-access stratum (NAS) messages (Para. 55); access stratum 230 (Fig. 2, el. 230), of a user equipment (UE), e.g., client device 102/202/402 (Fig. 1, el. 102; Fig. 2, el. 202; Fig. 4, el. 402), the UE having a…NAS and a plurality of NAS sublayers of the…NAS, wherein a first NAS payload of the plurality of NAS payloads is received from a first NAS sublayer of the plurality of NAS sublayers of the…NAS, and wherein a subsequent payload of the plurality of NAS payloads is received from a subsequent NAS sublayer of the plurality of NAS sublayers of the…NAS, e.g., NAS messages for each logical instance of the client device 202 may be multiplexed over the one RRC connection 208 (e.g., the one RRC signaling link layer of a communication protocol stack) (Fig. 2, el. 208; Para. 82);
allow for a device to be split into multiple logical instances, and for each logical instance to be represented by a unique NAS context, wherein each NAS context may be associated with one of a plurality of MMEs, where each of the plurality of MMEs is dedicated to one or more services—NAS sublayers--, and the radio link between the device and an access node is thereby shared by a plurality of NAS contexts (Para. 63);
multiple concurrent NAS contexts may be beneficial because specific services (e.g., an M2M service, a World Wide Web search service, a video streaming service)—NAS sublayers-- may be delivered and controlled by specific and dedicated MMEs (i.e., delivered and controlled by specific and dedicated functionality in a core network) (Para. 66);
encrypting, by the UE, the first payload with a first encryption generating a first encrypted payload and the subsequent payload with a subsequent encryption generating a subsequent encrypted payload, wherein the first encryption is associated with a first network function and the subsequent encryption is associated with a subsequent network function, e.g., obtaining 1202, at the client device, a plurality of contexts with a plurality of serving nodes (e.g., MMEs)—network functions--, and associating 1204 each of the plurality of contexts with a separate set of credentials, where each set of credentials may uniquely identify one context in the plurality of contexts, and associating 1206 each set of credentials with data corresponding to a respective context, and encrypting 1208 the data corresponding to a respective context based on the set of credentials associated with the context (Fig. 12; Para. 239);
a first set of keys associated with the first data may be received, and a second set of keys associated with the second data may also be received, and integrity protection and ciphering may be applied to the first data using the first set of keys and to the second data using the second set of keys (Para. 259);
generating, by the UE, a first message that includes: a first temporary identifier comprising first routing information for the first network function, a first container, and a subsequent container, wherein the first container includes the first encrypted payload and a subsequent temporary identifier comprising subsequent routing information for the subsequent network function, and wherein the subsequent container includes the subsequent encrypted payload, e.g., the RRC message—first message-- used to carry NAS signaling may have an inner container (which may be in or outside a packet data convergence protocol service data unit (PDCP SDU)) having the format: RRC_MSG (<UEID1, NAS_MSG>; <UEID2, NAS_MSG>; . . . ), --RRC_MSG () is the first container and <UEID2, NAS_MSG> is the second container--, where the UEID can be an SAE-Temporary Mobile Subscriber identity (S-TMSI) (where SAE stands for System Architecture Evolution and S-TMSI=MME Code (MMEC)+MME Mobile Subscriber Identity (M-TMSI)) or MME identifier (MMEI)+M-TMSI assigned by the MME serving the specific contexts, or a different label (Para. 135, 136);
encrypting 1208 the data corresponding to a respective context based on the set of credentials associated with the context (Fig. 12; Para. 239);
a first set of keys associated with the first data may be received, and a second set of keys associated with the second data may also be received, and integrity protection and ciphering may be applied to the first data using the first set of keys and to the second data using the second set of keys (Para. 259); and
transmitting, by the UE, the first message to a first apparatus, e.g., access node 104/426 (Fig. 1, el. 104; Fig. 4, el. 426);
in order to use the model in which there is a single RRC connection for multiple NAS contexts (e.g., multiplexed RRC), an access node may be enabled to route more than one NAS message in the same RRC message to the appropriate MMEs (Para. 135);
when an access node within the RAN 228 receives a communication from a client device 202, the access node may be able to determine how to forward the communication based at least on the VESM tag 213 packaged with the NAS payload 215 and the physical address of the client device 202 or the identity of the client device 202 (Para. 91);
sending 1210 the data via a radio link shared by the plurality of contexts (Fig. 12, el. 1210; Para. 239).
Faccin does not explicitly teach the UE having a modular NAS and a plurality of NAS sublayers of the modular NAS, wherein a first NAS payload of the plurality of NAS payloads is received from a first NAS sublayer of the plurality of NAS sublayers of the modular NAS, and wherein a subsequent payload of the plurality of NAS payloads is received from a subsequent NAS sublayer of the plurality of NAS sublayers of the modular NAS.
Pan teaches a modular NAS, e.g., FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a plurality of layers of a user device, including a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) layer (also called herein NAS entity or NAS module) (Fig. 2; Para. 22).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Faccin to include the UE having a modular NAS and a plurality of NAS sublayers of the modular NAS, wherein a first NAS payload of the plurality of NAS payloads is received from a first NAS sublayer of the plurality of NAS sublayers of the modular NAS, and wherein a subsequent payload of the plurality of NAS payloads is received from a subsequent NAS sublayer of the plurality of NAS sublayers of the modular NAS, using the known system of including an NAS module as a layer of a user device, as taught by Pan, in combination with the NAS signaling system of Faccin, for the purpose of having an NAS that is modular in make-up, thereby increasing the independent functionality of the NAS system.
Regarding claim 2, Faccin in view of Pan teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the first temporary identifier is a serving temporary mobile subscriber identifier (S-TMSI) for a mobility management function, e.g., the RRC message used to carry NAS signaling may have an inner container (which may be in or outside a packet data convergence protocol service data unit (PDCP SDU)) having the format: RRC_MSG (<UEID1, NAS_MSG>; <UEID2, NAS_MSG>; . . . ), where the UEID can be an SAE-Temporary Mobile Subscriber identity (S-TMSI) (where SAE stands for System Architecture Evolution and S-TMSI=MME Code (MMEC)+MME Mobile Subscriber Identity (M-TMSI)) or MME identifier (MMEI)+M-TMSI assigned by the MME serving the specific contexts, or a different label (Faccin-Para. 135, 136).
Regarding claim 3, Faccin in view of Pan teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the first routing information for the first network function is the first temporary identifier and the subsequent routing information for the subsequent network function is the subsequent temporary identifier, e.g., the RRC message used to carry NAS signaling may have an inner container (which may be in or outside a packet data convergence protocol service data unit (PDCP SDU)) having the format: RRC_MSG (<UEID1, NAS_MSG>; <UEID2, NAS_MSG>; . . . ), where the UEID can be an SAE-Temporary Mobile Subscriber identity (S-TMSI) (where SAE stands for System Architecture Evolution and S-TMSI=MME Code (MMEC)+MME Mobile Subscriber Identity (M-TMSI)) or MME identifier (MMEI)+M-TMSI assigned by the MME serving the specific contexts, or a different label (Faccin-Para. 135, 136).
Regarding claim 4, Faccin in view of Pan teaches the method of claim 3, wherein the first temporary identifier is a serving temporary mobile subscriber identifier (S-TMSI) for the first network function and the subsequent temporary identifier is an S-TMSI for the subsequent network function, e.g., the RRC message used to carry NAS signaling may have an inner container (which may be in or outside a packet data convergence protocol service data unit (PDCP SDU)) having the format: RRC_MSG (<UEID1, NAS_MSG>; <UEID2, NAS_MSG>; . . . ), where the UEID can be an SAE-Temporary Mobile Subscriber identity (S-TMSI) (where SAE stands for System Architecture Evolution and S-TMSI=MME Code (MMEC)+MME Mobile Subscriber Identity (M-TMSI)) or MME identifier (MMEI)+M-TMSI assigned by the MME serving the specific contexts, or a different label (Faccin-Para. 135, 136).
Regarding claim 5, Faccin in view of Pan teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the first apparatus is a radio access network (RAN), e.g., access node 104/426 (Faccin-Fig. 1, el. 104; Fig. 4, el. 426), wherein the access node 104 may be included within a radio access network (RAN) 106 (Faccin-Fig. 1, el. 106; Para. 53).
Regarding claim 6, Faccin teaches a method, comprising:
receiving, by a first apparatus, e.g., access node 104/426 (Fig. 1, el. 104; Fig. 4, el. 426), a first message from a second apparatus, e.g., client device 102/202/402 (Fig. 1, el. 102; Fig. 2, el. 202; Fig. 4, el. 402), that has a…non access stratum (NAS) and a plurality of NAS sublayers of the…NAS, e.g., in order to use the model in which there is a single RRC connection for multiple NAS contexts (e.g., multiplexed RRC), an access node may be enabled to route more than one NAS message in the same RRC message to the appropriate MMEs (Para. 135);
when an access node within the RAN 228 receives a communication from a client device 202, the access node may be able to determine how to forward the communication based at least on the VESM tag 213 packaged with the NAS payload 215 and the physical address of the client device 202 or the identity of the client device 202 (Para. 91);
sending 1210 the data via a radio link shared by the plurality of contexts (Fig. 12, el. 1210; Para. 239);
allow for a device to be split into multiple logical instances, and for each logical instance to be represented by a unique NAS context, wherein each NAS context may be associated with one of a plurality of MMEs, where each of the plurality of MMEs is dedicated to one or more services—NAS sublayers--, and the radio link between the device and an access node is thereby shared by a plurality of NAS contexts (Para. 63);
multiple concurrent NAS contexts may be beneficial because specific services (e.g., an M2M service, a World Wide Web search service, a video streaming service)—NAS sublayers-- may be delivered and controlled by specific and dedicated MMEs (i.e., delivered and controlled by specific and dedicated functionality in a core network) (Para. 66),
the first message including: a first container and a subsequent container, wherein the first container includes a first encrypted payload of a first NAS sublayer of the plurality of sublayers of the…NAS, and a temporary identifier comprising routing information for a subsequent network function, and wherein the subsequent container includes a subsequent encrypted payload of a subsequent NAS sublayer of the plurality of sublayers of the…NAS, e.g., the RRC message—first message-- used to carry NAS signaling may have an inner container (which may be in or outside a packet data convergence protocol service data unit (PDCP SDU)) having the format: RRC_MSG (<UEID1, NAS_MSG>; <UEID2, NAS_MSG>; . . . ), --RRC_MSG () is the first container and <UEID2, NAS_MSG> is the second container--, where the UEID can be an SAE-Temporary Mobile Subscriber identity (S-TMSI) (where SAE stands for System Architecture Evolution and S-TMSI=MME Code (MMEC)+MME Mobile Subscriber Identity (M-TMSI)) or MME identifier (MMEI)+M-TMSI assigned by the MME serving the specific contexts, or a different label (Para. 135, 136);
encrypting 1208 the data corresponding to a respective context based on the set of credentials associated with the context (Fig. 12; Para. 239);
a first set of keys associated with the first data may be received, and a second set of keys associated with the second data may also be received, and integrity protection and ciphering may be applied to the first data using the first set of keys and to the second data using the second set of keys (Para. 259);
reading, by the first apparatus, the routing information for the subsequent network function, e.g., when an access node within the RAN 228 receives a communication from a client device 202, the access node may be able to determine how to forward the communication based at least on the VESM tag 213 packaged with the NAS payload 215 and the physical address of the client device 202 or the identity of the client device 202 (Para. 91);
the access node may use a new or stored VESM tag for NAS routing to carry NAS signaling to the correct MME, wherein VESM tags may be used to make multiple active logical instances of a client device appear to the core network as separate logical connections (Para. 94);
the context-unique identifier may be a combination of the unique identifier derived for the logical instance of the device and a physical address/identifier of the device, wherein the context-unique identifiers may be referred to herein as context-unique identifiers or virtual evolved session management (VESM) tags (i.e., VESM tags), wherein the physical address/identifier of the device may be, for example, a global unique temporary identifier (GUTI), or a radio network temporary identifier (e.g., an identifier of an RRC connection that is dedicated to the device) (Para. 49); and
transmitting, by the first apparatus, the subsequent container to the subsequent network function based on the routing information for the subsequent network function, e.g., when an access node within the RAN 228 receives a communication from a client device 202, the access node may be able to determine how to forward the communication based at least on the VESM tag 213 packaged with the NAS payload 215 and the physical address of the client device 202 or the identity of the client device 202, and an access node within the RAN 228 may be able to direct the NAS payload to a first MME (e.g., MME A 240) associated with a first core network 236, or a second MME (e.g., MME B 248) associated with the second core network, core network B 238 (Para. 91);
the access node may use a new or stored VESM tag for NAS routing to carry NAS signaling to the correct MME, wherein VESM tags may be used to make multiple active logical instances of a client device appear to the core network as separate logical connections (Para. 94).
Faccin does not explicitly teach receiving, by a first apparatus, a first message from a second apparatus that has a modular non access stratum (NAS) and a plurality of NAS sublayers of the modular NAS; and
the first message including: a first container and a subsequent container, wherein the first container includes a first encrypted payload of a first NAS sublayer of the plurality of sublayers of the modular NAS, and a temporary identifier comprising routing information for a subsequent network function, and wherein the subsequent container includes a subsequent encrypted payload of a subsequent NAS sublayer of the plurality of sublayers of the modular NAS.
Pan teaches a modular NAS, e.g., FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a plurality of layers of a user device, including a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) layer (also called herein NAS entity or NAS module) (Fig. 2; Para. 22).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Faccin to include receiving, by a first apparatus, a first message from a second apparatus that has a modular non access stratum (NAS) and a plurality of NAS sublayers of the modular NAS; and the first message including: a first container and a subsequent container, wherein the first container includes a first encrypted payload of a first NAS sublayer of the plurality of sublayers of the modular NAS, and a temporary identifier comprising routing information for a subsequent network function, and wherein the subsequent container includes a subsequent encrypted payload of a subsequent NAS sublayer of the plurality of sublayers of the modular NAS, using the known system of including an NAS module as a layer of a user device, as taught by Pan, in combination with the NAS signaling system of Faccin, for the purpose of having an NAS that is modular in make-up, thereby increasing the independent functionality of the NAS system.
Regarding claim 8, Faccin in view of Pan teaches the method of claim 6, wherein the second apparatus is a radio access network (RAN), e.g., the access node 104 may be included within a radio access network (RAN) 106 (Faccin-Fig. 1, el. 106; Para. 53);
the single radio link 108 may be established between the client device 102 and the access node 104 of the RAN 106. (Faccin-Fig. 1, el. 108; Para. 54).
Regarding claim 9, Faccin in view of Pan teaches the method of claim 6, wherein the routing information for the subsequent network function is a serving temporary mobile subscriber identifier (S-TMSI) for the subsequent network function, e.g., the RRC message used to carry NAS signaling may have an inner container (which may be in or outside a packet data convergence protocol service data unit (PDCP SDU)) having the format: RRC_MSG (<UEID1, NAS_MSG>; <UEID2, NAS_MSG>; . . . ), where the UEID can be an SAE-Temporary Mobile Subscriber identity (S-TMSI) (where SAE stands for System Architecture Evolution and S-TMSI=MME Code (MMEC)+MME Mobile Subscriber Identity (M-TMSI)) or MME identifier (MMEI)+M-TMSI assigned by the MME serving the specific contexts, or a different label (Faccin-Para. 135, 136).
Regarding claim 10, Faccin teaches a user equipment (UE), e.g., client device 102/202/402 (Fig. 1, el. 102; Fig. 2, el. 202; Fig. 4, el. 402), comprising:
at least one processor, e.g., processing circuit 1006 (Fig. 10, el. 1006); and
at least one memory, e.g., memory device 1008 (Fig. 10, el. 1006), storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, e.g., the processing circuit 1006 may be adapted for processing, including the execution of programming, which may be stored on the memory device 1008 (Para. 215), cause the UE at least to perform:
receiving a plurality of non access stratum (NAS) payloads at an access stratum (AS) layer, e.g., the RRC layer handles broadcasted system information related to the access stratum and transport of non-access stratum (NAS) messages (Para. 55); access stratum 230 (Fig. 2, el. 230), of the UE, the UE having a…NAS and a plurality of NAS sublayers of the…NAS, wherein a first NAS payload of the plurality of NAS payloads is received from a first NAS sublayer of the plurality of NAS sublayers of the…NAS, and wherein a subsequent payload of the plurality of NAS payloads is received from a subsequent NAS sublayer of the plurality of NAS sublayers of the…NAS, e.g., NAS messages for each logical instance of the client device 202 may be multiplexed over the one RRC connection 208 (e.g., the one RRC signaling link layer of a communication protocol stack) (Fig. 2, el. 208; Para. 82);
allow for a device to be split into multiple logical instances, and for each logical instance to be represented by a unique NAS context, wherein each NAS context may be associated with one of a plurality of MMEs, where each of the plurality of MMEs is dedicated to one or more services—NAS sublayers--, and the radio link between the device and an access node is thereby shared by a plurality of NAS contexts (Para. 63);
multiple concurrent NAS contexts may be beneficial because specific services (e.g., an M2M service, a World Wide Web search service, a video streaming service)—NAS sublayers-- may be delivered and controlled by specific and dedicated MMEs (i.e., delivered and controlled by specific and dedicated functionality in a core network) (Para. 66);
encrypting, by the UE, the first payload with a first encryption generating a first encrypted payload and the subsequent payload with a subsequent encryption generating a subsequent encrypted payload, wherein the first encryption is associated with a first network function and the subsequent encryption is associated with a subsequent network function, e.g., obtaining 1202, at the client device, a plurality of contexts with a plurality of serving nodes (e.g., MMEs)—network functions--, and associating 1204 each of the plurality of contexts with a separate set of credentials, where each set of credentials may uniquely identify one context in the plurality of contexts, and associating 1206 each set of credentials with data corresponding to a respective context, and encrypting 1208 the data corresponding to a respective context based on the set of credentials associated with the context (Fig. 12; Para. 239);
a first set of keys associated with the first data may be received, and a second set of keys associated with the second data may also be received, and integrity protection and ciphering may be applied to the first data using the first set of keys and to the second data using the second set of keys (Para. 259);
generating, by the UE, a first message that includes: a first temporary identifier comprising first routing information for the first network function, a first container, and a subsequent container, wherein the first container includes the first encrypted payload and a subsequent temporary identifier comprising subsequent routing information for the subsequent network function, and wherein the subsequent container includes the subsequent encrypted payload, e.g., the RRC message—first message-- used to carry NAS signaling may have an inner container (which may be in or outside a packet data convergence protocol service data unit (PDCP SDU)) having the format: RRC_MSG (<UEID1, NAS_MSG>; <UEID2, NAS_MSG>; . . . ), --RRC_MSG () is the first container and <UEID2, NAS_MSG> is the second container--, where the UEID can be an SAE-Temporary Mobile Subscriber identity (S-TMSI) (where SAE stands for System Architecture Evolution and S-TMSI=MME Code (MMEC)+MME Mobile Subscriber Identity (M-TMSI)) or MME identifier (MMEI)+M-TMSI assigned by the MME serving the specific contexts, or a different label (Para. 135, 136);
encrypting 1208 the data corresponding to a respective context based on the set of credentials associated with the context (Fig. 12; Para. 239);
a first set of keys associated with the first data may be received, and a second set of keys associated with the second data may also be received, and integrity protection and ciphering may be applied to the first data using the first set of keys and to the second data using the second set of keys (Para. 259); and
transmitting, by the UE, the first message to a first apparatus, e.g., access node 104/426 (Fig. 1, el. 104; Fig. 4, el. 426);
in order to use the model in which there is a single RRC connection for multiple NAS contexts (e.g., multiplexed RRC), an access node may be enabled to route more than one NAS message in the same RRC message to the appropriate MMEs (Para. 135);
when an access node within the RAN 228 receives a communication from a client device 202, the access node may be able to determine how to forward the communication based at least on the VESM tag 213 packaged with the NAS payload 215 and the physical address of the client device 202 or the identity of the client device 202 (Para. 91);
sending 1210 the data via a radio link shared by the plurality of contexts (Fig. 12, el. 1210; Para. 239).
Faccin does not explicitly teach the UE having a modular NAS and a plurality of NAS sublayers of the modular NAS, wherein a first NAS payload of the plurality of NAS payloads is received from a first NAS sublayer of the plurality of NAS sublayers of the modular NAS, and wherein a subsequent payload of the plurality of NAS payloads is received from a subsequent NAS sublayer of the plurality of NAS sublayers of the modular NAS.
Pan teaches a modular NAS, e.g., FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a plurality of layers of a user device, including a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) layer (also called herein NAS entity or NAS module) (Fig. 2; Para. 22).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Faccin to include the UE having a modular NAS and a plurality of NAS sublayers of the modular NAS, wherein a first NAS payload of the plurality of NAS payloads is received from a first NAS sublayer of the plurality of NAS sublayers of the modular NAS, and wherein a subsequent payload of the plurality of NAS payloads is received from a subsequent NAS sublayer of the plurality of NAS sublayers of the modular NAS, using the known system of including an NAS module as a layer of a user device, as taught by Pan, in combination with the NAS signaling system of Faccin, for the purpose of having an NAS that is modular in make-up, thereby increasing the independent functionality of the NAS system.
Regarding claim 11, Faccin teaches an apparatus, e.g., access node 104/426 (Fig. 1, el. 104; Fig. 4, el. 426), comprising:
at least one processor, e.g., processing circuit 1606 (Fig. 16, el. 1606); and
at least one memory, e.g., memory device 1608 (Fig. 16, el. 1608), storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, e.g., the processing circuit 1606 may be adapted for processing, including the execution of programming, which may be stored on the memory device 1608 (Para. 250), cause the apparatus at least to perform:
receiving, by the apparatus, a first message from a second apparatus, e.g., client device 102/202/402 (Fig. 1, el. 102; Fig. 2, el. 202; Fig. 4, el. 402), that has a modular non access stratum (NAS) and a plurality of NAS sublayers of the modular NAS, e.g., in order to use the model in which there is a single RRC connection for multiple NAS contexts (e.g., multiplexed RRC), an access node may be enabled to route more than one NAS message in the same RRC message to the appropriate MMEs (Para. 135);
when an access node within the RAN 228 receives a communication from a client device 202, the access node may be able to determine how to forward the communication based at least on the VESM tag 213 packaged with the NAS payload 215 and the physical address of the client device 202 or the identity of the client device 202 (Para. 91);
sending 1210 the data via a radio link shared by the plurality of contexts (Fig. 12, el. 1210; Para. 239);
allow for a device to be split into multiple logical instances, and for each logical instance to be represented by a unique NAS context, wherein each NAS context may be associated with one of a plurality of MMEs, where each of the plurality of MMEs is dedicated to one or more services—NAS sublayers--, and the radio link between the device and an access node is thereby shared by a plurality of NAS contexts (Para. 63);
multiple concurrent NAS contexts may be beneficial because specific services (e.g., an M2M service, a World Wide Web search service, a video streaming service)—NAS sublayers-- may be delivered and controlled by specific and dedicated MMEs (i.e., delivered and controlled by specific and dedicated functionality in a core network) (Para. 66),
the first message including: a first container, and a subsequent container, wherein the first container includes a first encrypted payload of a first NAS sublayer of the plurality of sublayers of the…NAS, and a temporary identifier comprising routing information for the subsequent network function, and wherein the subsequent container includes the subsequent encrypted payload of a subsequent NAS sublayer of the plurality of sublayers of the…NAS, e.g., the RRC message—first message-- used to carry NAS signaling may have an inner container (which may be in or outside a packet data convergence protocol service data unit (PDCP SDU)) having the format: RRC_MSG (<UEID1, NAS_MSG>; <UEID2, NAS_MSG>; . . . ), --RRC_MSG () is the first container and <UEID2, NAS_MSG> is the second container--, where the UEID can be an SAE-Temporary Mobile Subscriber identity (S-TMSI) (where SAE stands for System Architecture Evolution and S-TMSI=MME Code (MMEC)+MME Mobile Subscriber Identity (M-TMSI)) or MME identifier (MMEI)+M-TMSI assigned by the MME serving the specific contexts, or a different label (Para. 135, 136);
encrypting 1208 the data corresponding to a respective context based on the set of credentials associated with the context (Fig. 12; Para. 239);
a first set of keys associated with the first data may be received, and a second set of keys associated with the second data may also be received, and integrity protection and ciphering may be applied to the first data using the first set of keys and to the second data using the second set of keys (Para. 259);
reading, by the apparatus, the routing information for the subsequent network function, e.g., when an access node within the RAN 228 receives a communication from a client device 202, the access node may be able to determine how to forward the communication based at least on the VESM tag 213 packaged with the NAS payload 215 and the physical address of the client device 202 or the identity of the client device 202 (Para. 91);
the access node may use a new or stored VESM tag for NAS routing to carry NAS signaling to the correct MME, wherein VESM tags may be used to make multiple active logical instances of a client device appear to the core network as separate logical connections (Para. 94);
the context-unique identifier may be a combination of the unique identifier derived for the logical instance of the device and a physical address/identifier of the device, wherein the context-unique identifiers may be referred to herein as context-unique identifiers or virtual evolved session management (VESM) tags (i.e., VESM tags), wherein the physical address/identifier of the device may be, for example, a global unique temporary identifier (GUTI), or a radio network temporary identifier (e.g., an identifier of an RRC connection that is dedicated to the device) (Para. 49); and
transmitting, by the apparatus, the subsequent container to the subsequent network function based on the routing information for the subsequent network function, e.g., when an access node within the RAN 228 receives a communication from a client device 202, the access node may be able to determine how to forward the communication based at least on the VESM tag 213 packaged with the NAS payload 215 and the physical address of the client device 202 or the identity of the client device 202, and an access node within the RAN 228 may be able to direct the NAS payload to a first MME (e.g., MME A 240) associated with a first core network 236, or a second MME (e.g., MME B 248) associated with the second core network, core network B 238 (Para. 91);
the access node may use a new or stored VESM tag for NAS routing to carry NAS signaling to the correct MME, wherein VESM tags may be used to make multiple active logical instances of a client device appear to the core network as separate logical connections (Para. 94).
Faccin does not explicitly teach receiving, by the apparatus, a first message from a second apparatus that has a modular non access stratum (NAS) and a plurality of NAS sublayers of the modular NAS; and
the first message including: a first container, and a subsequent container, wherein the first container includes a first encrypted payload of a first NAS sublayer of the plurality of sublayers of the modular NAS, and a temporary identifier comprising routing information for the subsequent network function, and wherein the subsequent container includes the subsequent encrypted payload of a subsequent NAS sublayer of the plurality of sublayers of the modular NAS.
Pan teaches a modular NAS, e.g., FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a plurality of layers of a user device, including a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) layer (also called herein NAS entity or NAS module) (Fig. 2; Para. 22).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Faccin to include receiving, by the apparatus, a first message from a second apparatus that has a modular non access stratum (NAS) and a plurality of NAS sublayers of the modular NAS; and the first message including: a first container, and a subsequent container, wherein the first container includes a first encrypted payload of a first NAS sublayer of the plurality of sublayers of the modular NAS, and a temporary identifier comprising routing information for the subsequent network function, and wherein the subsequent container includes the subsequent encrypted payload of a subsequent NAS sublayer of the plurality of sublayers of the modular NAS, using the known system of including an NAS module as a layer of a user device, as taught by Pan, in combination with the NAS signaling system of Faccin, for the purpose of having an NAS that is modular in make-up, thereby increasing the independent functionality of the NAS system.
Regarding claim 12, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 10. Faccin further teaches a processor-readable medium, e.g., memory device 1008 (Faccin-Fig. 10, el. 1006), storing instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, e.g., processing circuit 1006 (Faccin-Fig. 10, el. 1006), of a user equipment (UE), e.g., client device 102/202/402 (Faccin-Fig. 1, el. 102; Fig. 2, el. 202; Fig. 4, el. 402), cause the UE at least to perform the steps.
Regarding claim 13, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 11. Faccin further teaches a processor-readable medium, e.g., memory device 1608 (Fig. 16, el. 1608), storing instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, e.g., processing circuit 1606 (Fig. 16, el. 1606), of an apparatus, e.g., access node 104/426 (Fig. 1, el. 104; Fig. 4, el. 426), cause the apparatus at least to perform the steps.
Regarding claim 14, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 4.
Regarding claim 15, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 2.
Regarding claim 16, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 3.
Regarding claim 17, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 4.
Regarding claim 18, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 5.
Regarding claim 19, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 4.
Regarding claim 20, the claim is analyzed with respect to claim 4.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Faccin in view of Pan and further in view of Zakrzewski (US 2015/0146519 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Faccin in view of Pan teaches the method of claim 6.
Faccin further teaches…a mobility management (MM) function, e.g., the three logical contexts are serviced by three physical MMEs (e.g., serving nodes), MME A 420, MME B 422, MME C 424, wherein any physical MME can be split into multiple logical instances of itself, wherein MME D 432 is logically split into MME D1 434, MME D2 436, and MME D3 438 (Faccin-Fig. 4; Para. 97).
Faccin in view of Pan does not clearly teach wherein the first apparatus is a mobility management (MM) function.
Zakrzewski teaches wherein the first apparatus is a mobility management (MM) function, e.g., proxy MME 604/808 (Fig. 6, el. 604; Fig. 8, el. 808);
proxy MME 808 terminates the NAS protocol and forwards all NAS signaling to main MME 802, wherein during this operation, the proxy MME 808 may inspect, for example sniff the content of NAS messages that it forwards between UE 804 and main MME 802, wherein the inspection (sniffing) of NAS messages may allow the proxy MME 808 to build up UE 804 context information, which may mirror information stored at main MME 802 (Para. 88).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Faccin in view of Pan to include wherein the first apparatus is a mobility management (MM) function, using the known method of enabling a proxy MME to receive NAS messages from an access node, inspect the NAS messages, and then to forward them to a main MME, as taught by Zakrzewski, in combination with the NAS signaling system of Faccin in view of Pan, for the purpose of maintaining service continuity and preventing any data flow interruption while services are being provided (Zakrzewski-Para. 5).
Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Dash et al. (US 2018/0310190 A1)—Dash discloses the UE 102 may include a non-access stratum (NAS) 702 layer and/or module (Para. 87).
Somasundaram et al. (US 2016/0345177 A1)—Somasundaram discloses each NAS sub-layer, (e.g., EMM/ESM), may have its own SN/HFN which is incremented for every NAS PDU belonging to this protocol (Para. 72).
Huang et al. (US 2021/0266702 A1)—Huang et al. discloses a first MME of LTE core network 101 may receive the Attach Request, determine that LTE UE 107 and/or the Attach Request should be forwarded to a second MME and/or to LTE-5G IWF 105, and may accordingly forward the Attach Request to the second MME (Para. 19).
Jin (US 2017/0238215 A1)—Jin discloses the first mobility management entity 1006 is further configured to forward, to the second mobility management entity 1007, the downlink data sent by the first gateway 1004 (Para. 403).
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.
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03 September 2026
/Jeremy S Duffield/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2498
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