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 .
This is in response to the Applicant’s arguments, and amendments filed on July 28, 2026, in which claims 3-5, 7, 12-13, and 19 have been amended, claims 15-16, 18, and 20 have been canceled, and claims 21-24 have been added. Claims 1-14, 17, 19, and 21-24 are currently pending.
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 1-14, 17, 19, and 21-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US 2023/0412516) in view of De Foy et al. (US 2023/0074838).
Regarding claim 1, Wrang et al. teaches a method for establishing a control plane stream between a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) and a user plane function (UPF), the method comprising: establishing, by the WTRU, a protocol data unit (PDU) session with the UPF using a connection (i.e., a WTRU 102 may generate and send uplink data to a data network 185. In some instances, the WTRU 102 may need to initiate a control plane session management procedure to establish a PDU session with a UPF 184… it may trigger the WTRU 102 to perform a service request and eventually establish a PDU session with a UPF 184 ([0124]-[0127]. DTP is a transport layer protocol based on and extending Quick Internet UDP Connections (QUIC) protocol [0133]); determining, by the WTRU, to use the connection to provide the control plane stream with the UPF (i.e., If the primary channel is sensed/detected and/or determined to be busy by a particular STA, the particular STA may back off. One STA (e.g., only one station) may transmit at any given time in a given BSS [0092]. A scheduler 708 takes such deadline and priority as inputs to determine an order of QUIC packets to be sent out [0133]); and based at least in part on the determining, communicating, by the WTRU, with the UPF control plane information over the control plane stream (i.e., there are two approaches for using the control plane to transmit such small data. In a first approach, the WTRU 102 needs to establish a PDU session with a UPF, then the WRTU leverages control plane protocols to transmit uplink small data along the following entities sequentially: the WTRU 102, the serving AMF 182, an SMF 183, the UPF 184, and the data network 185. In a second approach, the WTRU 102 does not need to establish a PDU session but directly sends uplink small data along the following entities sequentially: the WTRU 102 [0127]).
Wang is specifically clear with the use QUIC connection to establish communications between devices.
However, the preceding limitation is known in the art of the communications. De Froy teaches modern transport protocols design, using QUIC as a major example, may emphasize strong end-to-end security through encryption, as well as efficiency and flexibility, such as through multiplexing. In particular, QUIC goes beyond supporting HTTP only, by supporting multiplexing of streams and datagrams in the same connection… there is a need for a method to enable proxying of a secure end-to-end transport layer QUIC connection in a manner that is seamless (e.g., appearing as a normal QUIC connection), without data traffic overhead (e.g., without establishing a tunnel), and/or enabling multiplexing of multiple proxied connections, and/or enabling application-specific actions to be taken on the proxy (e.g., D2D setup, application-layer ID lookup, multicast key session sharing, etc.) ([0095]-[0096]). MHMP QUIC operation may be based on the operation of an MP-QUIC protocol. The enhancements described herein may be described using QUIC and MP-QUIC as a base protocol. An MP-QUIC connection between two endpoints is composed of one or more paths. An MP-QUIC path may be a uni- or bi-directional data flow between two endpoints ([0102]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the invention, to have implemented the technique of De Foy in order to send, by the client Endpoint1, an initial end-to-end packet towards Endpoint2, encapsulated in the initial QUIC connection to the proxy, using a PACKET frame, using flow ID used in NEW_CONNECTION.
Regarding claim 2, Wang in view of De Foy teaches all the limitations above. In combination with Wang, De Foy further teaches establishing the PDU session with the UPF using the QUIC connection comprises: transmitting, by the WTRU, a request to establish the PDU session with the UPF using a QUIC proxy (i.e., A method performed by a client endpoint may involve sending, to a network node, a request to establish a QUIC connection with a destination endpoint, the request to establish the QUIC connection including a flow identifier (ID) [0003], [0125], [0139]); and establishing a leg of the PDU session between the WTRU and the UPF over non-integrated non-3GPP access (NIN3A) ( the Endpoint1 may establish a QUIC connection to the proxy. The proxy may authenticate the client (e.g., based on a certificate provided by the client). In some cases, QUIC may support server authentication by the client only, but may be extended to support client authentication by the server [0125], [0139]).
Regarding claim 3, Wang in view of De Foy teaches all the limitations above. In combination with Wang, De Foy further teaches transmitting, by the WTRU, a request to establish a multi-access (MA) PDU session with the UPF using multipath QUIC (MPQUIC) steering functionality (i.e., The AMF 182a, 182b may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and/or non-3GPP access technologies such as WiFi [0070]. MP transport protocols (e.g., MPTCP or MP-QUIC) may not support using one or more explicit hops (e.g., hops visible at the transport layer). Further, MP transport protocols may enable a selection of the network interface used by an endpoint (e.g., through the selection of a source IP address) [0079], [0095]).
Regarding claim 4, Wang in view of De Foy teaches all the limitations above. In combination with Wang, De Foy further teaches establishing the PDU session with the UPF using the QUIC connection comprises transmitting a request indicating to exchange control plane information between the WTRU and the UPF over the control plane stream (i.e., A method performed by a client endpoint may involve sending, to a network node, a request to establish a QUIC connection with a destination endpoint, the request to establish the QUIC connection including a flow identifier (ID) ([0003])).
Regarding claim 5, Wang in view of De Foy teaches all the limitations above. In combination with De Foy, Wang further teaches wherein determining to use the QUIC connection to communicate control plane information with the UPF comprises detecting a predefined trigger to initiate communication of control plane information over the control plane stream (i.e., The UPFs may be connected to one or more of the gNBs in the RAN 113 via an N3 interface, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, e.g., to facilitate communications between the WTRUs and IP-enabled devices [0104]-[0106]).
Regarding claim 6, Wang in view of De Foy teaches all the limitations above. In combination with De Foy, Wang further teaches the predefined trigger includes at least one of losing 3GPP access connectivity, completing setting up the PDU session, modifying the PDU session, receiving a message from a network, deciding to stop using 3GPP access, deciding to not use 3GPP access, completing establishing the QUIC connection, a decision to change a NIN3A connectivity timer, or detecting a network load above a threshold ([0092], [0115]-[0118]).
Regarding claim 7, Wang in view of De Foy teaches all the limitations above. In combination with De Foy, Wang further teaches wherein determining to use the QUIC connection to communicate control plane information with the UPF comprises receiving a message from the UPF instructing the WTRU to initiate communication of control plane information over the control plane stream (i.e., The UPFs may be connected to one or more of the gNBs in the RAN 113 via an N3 interface, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, e.g., to facilitate communications between the WTRUs and IP-enabled devices [0104]-[0106]).
Regarding claim 8, Wang in view of De Foy teaches all the limitations above. In combination with Wang, De Foy further teaches the control plane information is transmitted from the WTRU to the UPF or from the UPF to the WTRU and comprises data associated with at least one of establishing a new PDU session over the QUIC connection, modifying the PDU session over the QUIC connection, or releasing the PDU session over the QUIC connection ([0124-[0127]).
Regarding claim 9, Wrang et al. teaches a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) for establishing a control plane stream between the WTRU and a user plane function (UPF), the WTRU comprising a processor to: cause a protocol data unit (PDU) session to be established with the UPF using a connection (i.e., a WTRU 102 may generate and send uplink data to a data network 185. In some instances, the WTRU 102 may need to initiate a control plane session management procedure to establish a PDU session with a UPF 184… it may trigger the WTRU 102 to perform a service request and eventually establish a PDU session with a UPF 184 ([0124]-[0127]. DTP is a transport layer protocol based on and extending Quick Internet UDP Connections (QUIC) protocol [0133]); determine to use the QUIC connection to provide the control plane stream with the UPF (i.e., If the primary channel is sensed/detected and/or determined to be busy by a particular STA, the particular STA may back off. One STA (e.g., only one station) may transmit at any given time in a given BSS [0092]. A scheduler 708 takes such deadline and priority as inputs to determine an order of QUIC packets to be sent out [0133]); and based at least in part on the determining, communicating, by the WTRU, with the UPF control plane information over the control plane stream (i.e., there are two approaches for using the control plane to transmit such small data. In a first approach, the WTRU 102 needs to establish a PDU session with a UPF, then the WRTU leverages control plane protocols to transmit uplink small data along the following entities sequentially: the WTRU 102, the serving AMF 182, an SMF 183, the UPF 184, and the data network 185. In a second approach, the WTRU 102 does not need to establish a PDU session but directly sends uplink small data along the following entities sequentially: the WTRU 102 [0127]).
Wang is specifically clear with the use QUIC connection to establish communications between devices.
However, the preceding limitation is known in the art of the communications. De Froy teaches modern transport protocols design, using QUIC as a major example, may emphasize strong end-to-end security through encryption, as well as efficiency and flexibility, such as through multiplexing. In particular, QUIC goes beyond supporting HTTP only, by supporting multiplexing of streams and datagrams in the same connection… there is a need for a method to enable proxying of a secure end-to-end transport layer QUIC connection in a manner that is seamless (e.g., appearing as a normal QUIC connection), without data traffic overhead (e.g., without establishing a tunnel), and/or enabling multiplexing of multiple proxied connections, and/or enabling application-specific actions to be taken on the proxy (e.g., D2D setup, application-layer ID lookup, multicast key session sharing, etc.) ([0095]-[0096]). MHMP QUIC operation may be based on the operation of an MP-QUIC protocol. The enhancements described herein may be described using QUIC and MP-QUIC as a base protocol. An MP-QUIC connection between two endpoints is composed of one or more paths. An MP-QUIC path may be a uni- or bi-directional data flow between two endpoints ([0102]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the invention, to have implemented the technique of De Foy in order to send, by the client Endpoint1, an initial end-to-end packet towards Endpoint2, encapsulated in the initial QUIC connection to the proxy, using a PACKET frame, using flow ID used in NEW_CONNECTION.
Regarding claim 10, Wang in view of De Foy teaches all the limitations above. In combination with Wang, De Foy further teaches cause a request to be transmitted to establish the PDU session with the UPF using a QUIC proxy (i.e., A method performed by a client endpoint may involve sending, to a network node, a request to establish a QUIC connection with a destination endpoint, the request to establish the QUIC connection including a flow identifier (ID) [0003], [0125], [0139]); and cause a leg of the PDU session to be established between the WTRU and the UPF over non-integrated non-3GPP access (NIN3A) ( the Endpoint1 may establish a QUIC connection to the proxy. The proxy may authenticate the client (e.g., based on a certificate provided by the client). In some cases, QUIC may support server authentication by the client only, but may be extended to support client authentication by the server [0125], [0139]).
Regarding claim 11, Wang in view of De Foy teaches all the limitations above. In combination with Wang, De Foy further teaches cause a request to be transmitted to establish a multi-access (MA) PDU session with the UPF using multipath QUIC (MPQUIC) steering functionality; and cause a leg of the MA PDU session to be established between the WTRU and the UPF over non-integrated non-3GPP access (NIN3A). (i.e., The AMF 182a, 182b may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and/or non-3GPP access technologies such as WiFi [0070], MP transport protocols (e.g., MPTCP or MP-QUIC) may not support using one or more explicit hops (e.g., hops visible at the transport layer). Further, MP transport protocols may enable a selection of the network interface used by an endpoint (e.g., through the selection of a source IP address) [0079], [0095]).
Regarding claim 12, Wang in view of De Foy teaches all the limitations above. In combination with Wang, De Foy further teaches establishing the PDU session with the UPF using the QUIC connection comprises transmitting a request indicating to exchange control plane information between the WTRU and the UPF over the control plane stream (i.e., A method performed by a client endpoint may involve sending, to a network node, a request to establish a QUIC connection with a destination endpoint, the request to establish the QUIC connection including a flow identifier (ID) ([0003])).
Regarding claim 13, Wang in view of De Foy teaches all the limitations above. In combination with De Foy, Wang further teaches wherein determining to use the QUIC connection to communicate control plane information with the UPF comprises the processor to: cause a predefined trigger to be detected to initiate communication of control plane information over the control plane stream (i.e., The UPFs may be connected to one or more of the gNBs in the RAN 113 via an N3 interface, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, e.g., to facilitate communications between the WTRUs and IP-enabled devices [0104]-[0106]).
Regarding claim 14, Wang in view of De Foy teaches all the limitations above. In combination with De Foy, Wang further teaches wherein the predefined trigger includes at least one of losing 3GPP access connectivity, completing setting up the PDU session, modifying the PDU session, receiving a message from a network, deciding to stop using 3GPP access, deciding to not use 3GPP access, completing establishing the QUIC connection, a decision to change a NIN3A connectivity timer, or detecting a network load above a threshold ([0092], [0115]-[0118]).
Regarding claim 17, Wrang et al. teaches a method for establishing a control plane stream between a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) and a user plane function (UPF) via a session management function (SMF) (i.e., a WTRU 102 may generate and send uplink data to a data network 185. In some instances, the WTRU 102 may need to initiate a control plane session management procedure to establish a PDU session with a UPF 184. A serving AMF 182 and a selected SMF 183 are two control plane functions involved in the session establishment [0124]-[0125]), the method comprising: receiving, by the UPF from the SMF, data related to a connection to establish with the WTRU, wherein the data indicates to use the control plane stream between the WTRU and the UPF over the connection (i.e., sing the control plane to transmit such small data. In a first approach, the WTRU 102 needs to establish a PDU session with a UPF, then the WTRU leverages control plane protocols to transmit uplink small data along the following entities sequentially: the WTRU 102, the serving AMF 182, an SMF 183, the UPF 184, and the data network 185. In a second approach, the WTRU 102 does not need to establish a PDU session but directly sends uplink small data along the following entities sequentially: the WTRU 102, the serving AMF 182, an SMF 183, a NEF 406, and the data network 185 [0124]-[0127]); establishing, by the WTRU, a protocol data unit (PDU) session with the UPF using a connection (i.e., a WTRU 102 may generate and send uplink data to a data network 185. In some instances, the WTRU 102 may need to initiate a control plane session management procedure to establish a PDU session with a UPF 184… it may trigger the WTRU 102 to perform a service request and eventually establish a PDU session with a UPF 184 ([0124]-[0127]. DTP is a transport layer protocol based on and extending Quick Internet UDP Connections (QUIC) protocol [0133]); determining, by the WTRU, to use the connection to provide the control plane stream with the UPF (i.e., If the primary channel is sensed/detected and/or determined to be busy by a particular STA, the particular STA may back off. One STA (e.g., only one station) may transmit at any given time in a given BSS [0092]. A scheduler 708 takes such deadline and priority as inputs to determine an order of QUIC packets to be sent out [0133]); and based at least in part on the determining, communicating, by the WTRU, with the UPF control plane information over the control plane stream (i.e., there are two approaches for using the control plane to transmit such small data. In a first approach, the WTRU 102 needs to establish a PDU session with a UPF, then the WRTU leverages control plane protocols to transmit uplink small data along the following entities sequentially: the WTRU 102, the serving AMF 182, an SMF 183, the UPF 184, and the data network 185. In a second approach, the WTRU 102 does not need to establish a PDU session but directly sends uplink small data along the following entities sequentially: the WTRU 102 [0127]).
Wang is specifically clear with the use QUIC connection to establish communications between devices.
However, the preceding limitation is known in the art of the communications. De Froy teaches modern transport protocols design, using QUIC as a major example, may emphasize strong end-to-end security through encryption, as well as efficiency and flexibility, such as through multiplexing. In particular, QUIC goes beyond supporting HTTP only, by supporting multiplexing of streams and datagrams in the same connection… there is a need for a method to enable proxying of a secure end-to-end transport layer QUIC connection in a manner that is seamless (e.g., appearing as a normal QUIC connection), without data traffic overhead (e.g., without establishing a tunnel), and/or enabling multiplexing of multiple proxied connections, and/or enabling application-specific actions to be taken on the proxy (e.g., D2D setup, application-layer ID lookup, multicast key session sharing, etc.) ([0095]-[0096]). MHMP QUIC operation may be based on the operation of an MP-QUIC protocol. The enhancements described herein may be described using QUIC and MP-QUIC as a base protocol. An MP-QUIC connection between two endpoints is composed of one or more paths. An MP-QUIC path may be a uni- or bi-directional data flow between two endpoints ([0102]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the invention, to have implemented the technique of De Foy in order to send, by the client Endpoint1, an initial end-to-end packet towards Endpoint2, encapsulated in the initial QUIC connection to the proxy, using a PACKET frame, using flow ID used in NEW_CONNECTION.
Regarding claim 19, Wang in view of De Foy teaches all the limitations above. In combination with Wang, De Foy further teaches receiving, from the WTRU, a request to establish a multi-access (MA) PDU session with the UPF using multipath QUIC (MPQUIC) steering functionality (i.e., MHMP QUIC operation may be based on the operation of an MP-QUIC protocol. The enhancements described herein may be described using QUIC and MP-QUIC as a base protocol. An MP-QUIC connection between two endpoints is composed of one or more paths. An MP-QUIC path may be a uni- or bi-directional data flow between two endpoints [0102]-[0103] a request to establish a QUIC connection with a destination endpoint, the request to establish the QUIC connection including a flow identifier (ID) ([0003]).
Regarding claim 21, Wang in view of De Foy teaches all the limitations above. In combination with Wang, De Foy further teaches establishing a leg of the MA PDU session between the WTRU and the UPF over non-integrated non-3GPP access (NIN3A) (i.e., The AMF 182a, 182b may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and/or non-3GPP access technologies such as WiFi [0070]. MP transport protocols (e.g., MPTCP or MP-QUIC) may not support using one or more explicit hops (e.g., hops visible at the transport layer). Further, MP transport protocols may enable a selection of the network interface used by an endpoint (e.g., through the selection of a source IP address) [0079], [0095]).
Regarding claim 22, Wang in view of De Foy teaches all the limitations above. In combination with Wang, De Foy further teaches wherein establishing a leg of the MA PDU session between the WTRU and the UPF over 3GPP access (i.e., The AMF 182a, 182b may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and/or non-3GPP access technologies such as WiFi [0070]. MP transport protocols (e.g., MPTCP or MP-QUIC) may not support using one or more explicit hops (e.g., hops visible at the transport layer). Further, MP transport protocols may enable a selection of the network interface used by an endpoint (e.g., through the selection of a source IP address) [0079], [0095]).
Regarding claim 23, Wang in view of De Foy teaches all the limitations above. In combination with Wang, De Foy further teaches wherein establishing a leg of the MA PDU session between the WTRU and the UPF over non- integrated non-3GPP access (NIN3A) (i.e., The AMF 182a, 182b may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and/or non-3GPP access technologies such as WiFi [0070]. MP transport protocols (e.g., MPTCP or MP-QUIC) may not support using one or more explicit hops (e.g., hops visible at the transport layer). Further, MP transport protocols may enable a selection of the network interface used by an endpoint (e.g., through the selection of a source IP address) [0079], [0095]).
Regarding claim 24, Wang in view of De Foy teaches all the limitations above. In combination with Wang, De Foy further teaches establishing a leg of the MA PDU session between the WTRU and the UPF over 3GPP access (i.e., The AMF 182a, 182b may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and/or non-3GPP access technologies such as WiFi [0070]. MP transport protocols (e.g., MPTCP or MP-QUIC) may not support using one or more explicit hops (e.g., hops visible at the transport layer). Further, MP transport protocols may enable a selection of the network interface used by an endpoint (e.g., through the selection of a source IP address) [0079], [0095]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 07/28/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The Applicant argues that the Office Action contends that Wang in combination with De Foy shows "determining, by the WTRU, to use the QUIC connection to provide the control plane stream with the UPF; and based at least in part on the determining, communicating, by the WTRU with the UPF control plane information over the control plane stream," because each of Wang and De Foy recite a use of QUIC connections to establish communications between devices. Contrary to the Office Action's contention, whether taken alone or in combination, neither Wang nor De Foy show at least communicating control plane information over the control plane stream between the WTRU and the UPF using a QUIC connection.
However, the Examiner disagrees with the preceding arguments and maintains that the prior arts of record read on the claims, wherein De Foy teaches a method performed by a client endpoint may involve sending, to a network node, a request to establish a QUIC connection with a destination endpoint, the request to establish the QUIC connection including a flow identifier (ID). Each of the gNBs 180a, 180c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the UL and/or DL, routing of user plane data towards User Plane Function (UPF) 184a, 184b, routing of control plane information towards Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 182a, 182b and the like (corresponding to a control plane stream through the mention of routing control plane information) ([0068]). Therefore, the rejection is final.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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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/JEAN A GELIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643
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