DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Response to Amendment
This communication is in response to the amendment field 8/13/2026. The amendment has been entered and considered.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
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Claims 1-18 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-23 of U.S. Patent No. 11368838 in view of Toskala et al. US 2012/0282968. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the claims of patent 11368838 disclose all the limitations of the instant application as shown in the table below except for the charging manner information includes a report or traffic interval for reporting use information of the data path. Toskala teaches the terminal receives configuration information with respect to measurements ad reporting triggers with respect to a connection between user and control plane; Paragraph 113.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of Patent 11368838 to include the charging information being an interval as taught by Toskala.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that user can receive the configuration information so it knows what information and when to report it to the network as taught by Toskala; Paragraph 113.
Claim 1 of the instant application
Claims 17+19+22 of Patent 11368838
A communication method for a user plane entity comprising: receiving, by a user plane entity, configuration information of a data path from a control plane entity, wherein the configuration information comprises charging manner information; wherein the charging manner information comprises a report time interval or a traffic interval for reporting use information of the data path; collecting, by the user plane entity, use information of the data path; and reporting, by the user plane entity, the use information of the data path to the control plane entity according to the charging manner information.
A communication method in a core network comprising a mobility management network element, a control plane entity and at least one user plane entity located between a packet data network and a radio access network (RAN), wherein the control plane entity is independent of the mobility management network element, and the control plane entity is independent of the user plane entity, the method comprising: receiving, by the control plane entity, a session establishment request message from the mobility management entity; allocating, by the control plane entity, an internet protocol (IP) address information to user equipment (UE) in response to the session establishment request message; generating, by the control plane entity, configuration information of a data path according to the IP address information allocated by the control plane entity, wherein the data path is used for connecting the user plane entity with the radio access network (RAN), and the packet data network; sending, by the control plane entity, the configuration information of the data path to the user plane entity, wherein the configuration information of the data path comprises association information of the data path which comprises the IP address information and one or more IP quintuple filters, and wherein the association information is used for forwarding data to an associated data path; receiving, by the user plane entity, the configuration information of the data path sent by the control plane entity; and forwarding, by the user plane entity, data of the UE on the data path, in response to the data of the UE being matched with the association information of the data path;
wherein one or more of the following conditions is satisfied: the identification information comprises at least one of an internet protocol (IP) address, a media access control (MAC) address, a port number, and a protocol type, the data path information comprises at least one of a data path protocol, a data path identifier, packet data network (PDN) connection information, bearer information, quality of service (QoS) information, service data stream information, and charging manner information, and the association information of the data path comprises at least one of: association information of the UE with the data path, association information of the service data stream of the UE with the data path, association information between a data path for connecting with the PDN and a data path for connecting with the RAN, association information between the data path for connecting with the PDN and a data path for connecting with another network element, and association information between the data path for connecting with the other network element and the data path for connecting with the RAN.
collecting, by the user plane entity, use information of the data path; reporting the use information to the control plane entity; generating, by the control plane entity, a charging data record according to the use information; and reporting the generated charging data record to a charging system.
Claims 1-18 of the instant application are further rejected under double patenting over claims 1-20 of patent 12015910.
Appropriate correction required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-4, 6-11, 13-16, 18 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Hahn US 2015/0052234 in view of Toskala et al. “Toskala” US 2012/0282968.
Regarding claims 1 and 8, Hahn teaches a method and user plane entity including one or more processors coupled to a memory wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute a program stored in memory to enable the user plane entity to perform at least the following operations:
Receiving configuration information of a data path from a control plane entity, wherein the configuration information comprises charging manner information (the central controller (control plane) transmits a trigger for context establishment and tunnels and a dedicated parameter which includes an IP address to a selected gateway (user plane); Paragraphs 71, 75, 90. Further, the central controller can generate charging records which can be transmit; Paragraph 54. Lastly, the system is designed to enable a separation between control and user plane functionalities; Paragraphs 93 and 120)
Collecting use information of the data path (the system performs charging record generation and/or budget management wherein accounting messages are a part of the OpenFlow protocol that are sent to the central controller; Paragraph 54. Further, the distributed gateways inspect traffic (i.e. collect use information) and relay this information to the central controller; Paragraph 56); and
Reporting the use information to the control plane entity according to the charging manner information (the central controller generates charging records/performs budget management and reports this information out; Paragraph 54. The distributed gateways relay the traffic inspection information to the central controller (i.e. reporting use information); Paragraph 56)).
Hahn does not teach the charging manner is report time interval or traffic interval; however, Toskala teaches the terminal receives configuration information with respect to measurements and reporting triggers with respect to a connection between user and control plane; Paragraph 113. The intervals are not defined within the claim language or the specification and thus any trigger event/reporting is viewed as the interval.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of Patent 11368838 to include the charging information being an interval as taught by Toskala.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that user can receive the configuration information so it knows what information and when to report it to the network as taught by Toskala; Paragraph 113.
Regarding claims 2 and 9, Hahn teaches the configuration information of the data path includes ID of the user plane entity, ID of a peer network element, path information of the data path, and association information of the data path (the dedicated parameter indicates remote IP address and local SGi interfaces of a local gateway; Paragraph 86 (ID of a peer network element or ID of user plane entity)).
Regarding claims 3 and 10, Hahn teaches the identification information includes an IP address (the dedicated parameter indicates remote IP address and local SGi interfaces of a local gateway; Paragraph 86).
Regarding claims 4 and 11, Hahn teaches the peer network element is a P-GW (the dedicated parameter indicates remote IP address and local SGi interfaces of a local packet gateway; Paragraph 86).
Regarding claims 6 and 13, Hahn teaches the user information includes data traffic of the data path (the distributed gateways can inspect traffic; Paragraph 56).
Regarding claim 7, Hahn teaches:
Receiving, by the controller user entity, the use information of the data path (the distributed gateways can inspect traffic and send it to the central controller; Paragraph 56);
Generating, by the control plane entity, a charging data record according to the use information and reporting, by the control plane entity, the generated charging data record to a charging system (the central controller operates the functions of charging record generation and budgeted management and relies on messages sent to the central controller; Paragraph 54. The charge records would then be sent out).
Regarding claim 14, Hahn teaches a control plane entity including one or more processors coupled to a memory wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute a program stored in memory to enable the user plane entity to perform at least the following operations:
generating configuration information of a data path and sending it to a user plane entity, wherein the configuration information comprises charging manner information (the central controller (control plane) transmits a trigger for context establishment and tunnels and a dedicated parameter which includes an IP address to a selected gateway (user plane); Paragraphs 71, 75, 90. Further, the central controller can generate charging records which can be transmit; Paragraph 54. Lastly, the system is designed to enable a separation between control and user plane functionalities; Paragraphs 93 and 120)
Receiving use information of the data path (the distributed gateways can inspect traffic and send it to the central controller; Paragraph 56);
Generating a charging data record according to the use information and reporting, by the control plane entity, the generated charging data record to a charging system (the central controller operates the functions of charging record generation and budgeted management and relies on messages sent to the central controller; Paragraph 54. The charge records would then be sent out).
Hahn does not teach the charging manner is report time interval or traffic interval; however, Toskala teaches the terminal receives configuration information with respect to measurements and reporting triggers with respect to a connection between user and control plane; Paragraph 113. The intervals are not defined within the claim language or the specification and thus any trigger event/reporting is viewed as the interval.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of Patent 11368838 to include the charging information being an interval as taught by Toskala.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that user can receive the configuration information so it knows what information and when to report it to the network as taught by Toskala; Paragraph 113.
Regarding claim 15, Hahn teaches the configuration information of the data path includes ID of the user plane entity, ID of a peer network element, path information of the data path, and association information of the data path (the dedicated parameter indicates remote IP address and local SGi interfaces of a local gateway; Paragraph 86 (ID of a peer network element or ID of user plane entity)).
Regarding claim 16, Hahn teaches a communication system comprising a control plane and user plane entity wherein the control plane entity comprises:
one or more processors coupled to a memory wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute a program stored in memory to enable the user plane entity to perform at least the following operations:
sending configuration information of a data path and sending it to a user plane entity, wherein the configuration information comprises charging manner information (the central controller (control plane) transmits a trigger for context establishment and tunnels and a dedicated parameter which includes an IP address to a selected gateway (user plane); Paragraphs 71, 75, 90. Further, the central controller can generate charging records which can be transmit; Paragraph 54. Lastly, the system is designed to enable a separation between control and user plane functionalities; Paragraphs 93 and 120);
the user plane entity including one or more processors coupled to a memory wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute a program stored in memory to enable the user plane entity to perform at least the following operations:
Receiving configuration information (the central controller (control plane) transmits a trigger for context establishment and tunnels and a dedicated parameter which includes an IP address to a selected gateway (user plane); Paragraphs 71, 75, 90. Further, the central controller can generate charging records which can be transmit; Paragraph 54. Lastly, the system is designed to enable a separation between control and user plane functionalities; Paragraphs 93 and 120)
Collecting use information of the data path (the system performs charging record generation and/or budget management wherein accounting messages are a part of the OpenFlow protocol that are sent to the central controller; Paragraph 54. Further, the distributed gateways inspect traffic (i.e. use information) and relay this information to the central controller; Paragraph 56); and
Reporting the use information to the control plane entity according to the charging manner information (the central controller generates charging records/performs budget management and reports this information out; Paragraph 54. The distributed gateways relay the traffic inspection information to the central controller (i.e. reporting use information); Paragraph 56)).
Hahn does not teach the charging manner is report time interval or traffic interval; however, Toskala teaches the terminal receives configuration information with respect to measurements and reporting triggers with respect to a connection between user and control plane; Paragraph 113. The intervals are not defined within the claim language or the specification and thus any trigger event/reporting is viewed as the interval.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of Patent 11368838 to include the charging information being an interval as taught by Toskala.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that user can receive the configuration information so it knows what information and when to report it to the network as taught by Toskala; Paragraph 113.
Regarding claim 18, Hahn teaches the use information includes data traffic of the data path (the distributed gateways can inspect traffic; Paragraph 56).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-4, 6-11, 13-16, 18 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument/
The Examiner notes the report time interval and traffic interval (while repeated verbatim in the specification) are not defined within the specification or the claim language to be anything in particular. Thus as long as one device receives instructions and executes those instructions (the measuring/reporting of Toskala as shown in the rejection) the prior art properly reads on the claim limitations.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRANDON M RENNER whose telephone number is (571)270-3621. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7am-5pm EST.
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/BRANDON M RENNER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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