Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Objections
Claim 18 is objected to because of the following informalities: Line 1 recites “One of more” which should be corrected to “One or more”. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Publication No. 2023/0379376 (“Muthukumar”) in view of US Publication No. 2021/0258745 (“Tiwari et al.”) and further in view of US Publication No. 2021/0051530 (“Venkataraman et al.”).
Regarding claim 1, Muthukumar discloses a method comprising:
in a control plane of a wireless communication network:
in response to a multimedia bearer failure for a wireless user device, registering the wireless user device for control plane messaging ([0019] the server 110 can implement a dedicated bearer failure detector 112 and a message management component 114. For example, the UE 102 can initiate a call setup procedure (e.g., an exchange of a plurality of messages that establish the communication channel) by sending a call setup message 116 to establish a voice call to the 5G system 104. The call setup procedure can include, for instance, establishing a control plane and a user plane that enables the UE 102 to exchange data (e.g., data packets for a voice or video call) with the UE 106);
exchanging messages with the user device over a signaling link of the control plane ([0021] the server 110 and/or the UE 102 can generate one more control plane messages 118 to establish a control plane between the server 110 and the UE 102 using a default bearer. Based at least in part on exchanging the control plane message(s) 118, the control plane can be successfully established and the UE 102 and the server 110 can generate one or more user plane message(s) 120);
Muthukumar does not specify the message comprising exchanging text. In the same field of endeavor, Tiwari et al. discloses in response to the default bearer setup failure, registering the wireless user device with a Short-Message-Service Center (SMSC) ([0006] The UE is registered for SMS over NAS transmission via 3GPP and non-3GPP access to a same AMF of a PLMN. When an MT SMS arrives in the AMF then the AMF transmits the SMS to the UE via 3GPP access or non-3GPP access depending on the operator policy).
Muthukumar recognizes the problem of maintaining communications when a dedicated multimedia bearer cannot be established. Tiwari et al. further provides a solution for transporting text messages through NAS control-plane signaling without requiring a multimedia or user-plane bearer.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the SMS-over-NAS messaging techniques into the bearer-failure environment to maintain messaging service continuity when the multimedia bearer is unavailable. The combination would predictably allow users to continue exchanging text messages during bearer-establishment failures and automatically resume normal IMS multimedia communications once registration and bearer establishment succeed.
The above combination fails to specify retry request. In the same field of endeavor, Venkataraman et al. discloses in response to establishment of a multimedia bearer for the wireless user device, deregistering the wireless user device for control plane messaging; and directing the wireless user device to register with a multimedia system for service over the multimedia bearer ([0128] At 1236, 4G network 1162 may deactivate the EPS bearer and at 1238, the application layer may indicate ending of the voice call to the baseband layer. At 1240, the baseband layer may initiate and FRNR procedure with 5G network 1164 to return to the NR network.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to restore messaging when available in order to return to normal operating procedure.
Claim 9 recites a wireless communication network comprising: a user plane configured to support a multimedia bearer for a wireless user device; and a control plane configured to perform the method of claim 1. Thus claim 9 is rejected in view of Muthukumar in view of Tiwari et al. and Venkataraman et al. for the same reasons discussed with respect to claim 1.
Regarding claims 2 and 10, Muthukumar in view of Tiwari et al. and Venkataraman et al. discloses the method of claim 1 further comprising: transferring a multimedia bearer setup request to a session manager associated with the user device; and receiving an Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation failure notification from the session manager that indicates the multimedia bearer failure (Tiwari, [0119] 4. Based on the decision in step 3, the SMS is sent in the DL NAS TRANSPORT message to the UE via non-3GPP access. The SMS may be transferred in an existing NAS message or a new NAS message, Muthukumar, [0028] the dedicated bearer can fail to establish a user plane based at least in part on a configuration error caused by a setting of the telecommunication network and/or the UE 102. For example, a configuration error associated with a network setting of the telecommunication network can cause a call to fail over dedicated bearer).
Regarding claims 3 and 11, Muthukumar in view of Tiwari et al. and Venkataraman et al. discloses the method further comprising: transferring a multimedia bearer setup request to a session manager associated with the user device; and receiving a user plane timeout notification from the session manager that indicates the multimedia bearer failure (Muthukumar, as a result of the failure message, [0019] the UE being unable to establish the call by continuing to attempt to connect with the dedicated bearer, the UE can determine or otherwise receive an indication that the dedicated bearer cannot be established. Responsive to determining that the dedicated bearer cannot be established, the UE can configure a message for sending to the IMS core).
Regarding claims 4 and 12, Muthukumar in view of Tiwari et al. and Venkataraman et al. discloses the method of claim 1 wherein: registering the wireless user device for the control plane messaging comprises
registering the user device with a Short Message Service Center (SMSC) for Short Message Service (SMS) messaging over Non-Access Stratum (NAS) signaling; and exchanging the text messages with the user device over the signaling link of the control plane comprises exchanging SMS messages with the user device over a NAS link (Tiwari, [0006] The UE is registered for SMS over NAS transmission via 3GPP and non-3GPP access to a same AMF of a PLMN. When an MT SMS arrives in the AMF then the AMF transmits the SMS to the UE via 3GPP access or non-3GPP access depending on the operator policy).
Regarding claims 5 and 13, Muthukumar in view of Tiwari et al. and Venkataraman et al. discloses the method of claim 1 further comprising transferring a notification to the user device that indicates the multimedia bearer failure and the control plane messaging is enabled (Muthukumar, [0021] the server 110 and/or the UE 102 can generate one more control plane messages 118 to establish a control plane between the server 110 and the UE 102 using a default bearer (e.g., a Create Session Response, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message, or the like). Based at least in part on exchanging the control plane message(s) 118, the control plane can be successfully established and the UE 102 and the server 110 can generate one or more user plane message(s) 120 (e.g., a Create Bearer Request, a Create Bearer Response, a Dedicated Bearer Context Setup Request, a Dedicated Bearer Context Setup Response, a diameter message, and so on) to establish a user plane for the communication channel using the dedicated bearer).
Regarding claims 6 and 14, Muthukumar in view of Tiwari et al. and Venkataraman et al. discloses the method of claim 1 further comprising: receiving a retry request from the wireless user device; transferring a multimedia bearer setup request to a session manager associated with the user device; and receiving a bearer setup success notification from the session manager that indicates the establishment of the multimedia bearer (Muthukumar, [0010] Instead of the UE being unable to establish the call by continuing to attempt to connect with the dedicated bearer, the UE can determine or otherwise receive an indication that the dedicated bearer cannot be established. Responsive to determining that the dedicated bearer cannot be established, the UE (or the IMS core) can configure a message for sending to the IMS core (or the UE) using the default bearer in accordance with RTP and/or RTCP).
Regarding claims 7 and 15, Muthukumar in view of Tiwari et al. and Venkataraman et al. discloses the method of claim 1 wherein deregistering the wireless user device for control plane messaging comprises directing a Short Message Service Center (SMSC) to deregister the user device for Short Message Service (SMS) messaging over Non-Access Stratum (NAS) signaling ([0128], [0118] At 1236, 4G network 1162 may deactivate the EPS bearer and at 1238, the application layer may indicate ending of the voice call to the baseband layer. At 1240, the baseband layer may initiate and FRNR procedure with 5G network 1164 to return to the NR network).
Regarding claims 8 and 16, Muthukumar in view of Tiwari et al. and Venkataraman et al. discloses the method of claim 1 wherein directing the wireless user device to register with the multimedia system for service over the multimedia bearer comprising transferring a registration approval message that indicates the establishment of the multimedia bearer and that directs the user device to register with the multimedia system (Muthukumar, as a result of the failure message, [0019] the UE being unable to establish the call by continuing to attempt to connect with the dedicated bearer, the UE can determine or otherwise receive an indication that the dedicated bearer cannot be established. Responsive to determining that the dedicated bearer cannot be established, the UE can configure a message for sending to the IMS core).
Regarding claim 17, Muthukumar in view of Tiwari et al. and Venkataraman et al. discloses the wireless communication network of claim 9 further comprising network circuitry configured to execute the user plane and the control plane (Muthukumar, [0025] the dedicated bearer failure detector 112 and the message management component 114 can be included in the UE 102, the UE 106, or another component or entity of the 5G system 104. For example, functionality provided by the dedicated bearer failure detector 112 and/or the message management component 114 can be implemented by the UE 102 or the UE 106, in addition to or instead of the server 110.).
Regarding claim 18, Muthukumar discloses one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media having program instructions stored thereon, wherein the program instruction, when executed by a computing system, direct the computing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
during initial registration, receiving a failure notification that indicates a default bearer setup failure for a wireless user device ([0019] the server 110 can implement a dedicated bearer failure detector 112 and a message management component 114. For example, the UE 102 can initiate a call setup procedure (e.g., an exchange of a plurality of messages that establish the communication channel) by sending a call setup message 116 to establish a voice call to the 5G system 104. The call setup procedure can include, for instance, establishing a control plane and a user plane that enables the UE 102 to exchange data (e.g., data packets for a voice or video call) with the UE 106).
Muthukumar does not specify the message comprising exchanging Short-Message Service. In the same field of endeavor, Tiwari et al. discloses in response to the default bearer setup failure, registering the wireless user device with a Short-Message-Service Center (SMSC); exchanging Short-Message-Service (SMS) messages for the user device with the SMSC ; exchanging the SMS messages with the user device of a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) link ([0006] The UE is registered for SMS over NAS transmission via 3GPP and non-3GPP access to a same AMF of a PLMN. When an MT SMS arrives in the AMF then the AMF transmits the SMS to the UE via 3GPP access or non-3GPP access depending on the operator policy).
Muthukumar recognizes the problem of maintaining communications when a dedicated multimedia bearer cannot be established. Tiwari et al. further provides a solution for transporting text messages through NAS control-plane signaling without requiring a multimedia or user-plane bearer.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the SMS-over-NAS messaging techniques into the bearer-failure environment to maintain messaging service continuity when the multimedia bearer is unavailable. The combination would predictably allow users to continue exchanging text messages during bearer-establishment failures and automatically resume normal IMS multimedia communications once registration and bearer establishment succeed.
The above combination fails to specify retry request. In the same field of endeavor, Venkataraman et al. discloses in response to establishment of a multimedia bearer for the wireless user device, deregistering the wireless user device for control plane messaging; and directing the wireless user device to register with a multimedia system for service over the multimedia bearer ([0128] At 1236, 4G network 1162 may deactivate the EPS bearer and at 1238, the application layer may indicate ending of the voice call to the baseband layer. At 1240, the baseband layer may initiate and FRNR procedure with 5G network 1164 to return to the NR network).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to restore messaging when available in order to return to normal operating procedure.
Regarding claim 19, Muthukumar in view of Tiwari et al. and Venkataraman et al. discloses the computer readable storage media of claim 18 wherein the default bearer setup failure comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation failure (Muthukumar, [0028] the dedicated bearer can fail to establish a user plane based at least in part on a configuration error caused by a setting of the telecommunication network and/or the UE 102. For example, a configuration error associated with a network setting of the telecommunication network can cause a call to fail over dedicated bearer).
Regarding claim 20, Muthukumar in view of Tiwari et al. and Venkataraman et al. discloses the computer readable storage media of claim 18 wherein the default bearer setup failure comprises a User Plane Function (UPF) timeout (Muthukumar, as a result of the failure message, [0019] the UE being unable to establish the call by continuing to attempt to connect with the dedicated bearer, the UE can determine or otherwise receive an indication that the dedicated bearer cannot be established. Responsive to determining that the dedicated bearer cannot be established, the UE can configure a message for sending to the IMS core).
Conclusion
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/JIRAPON TULOP/Examiner, Art Unit 2693
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