DETAILED ACTION
This office action is responsive to communications filed on February 7, 2024. Claims 1-14 are pending in the application.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement filed on 4/2/2024 has been considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “the subscriber identification module” in lines 9-10. Although there is a previous recitation of a “subscriber identity module”, there is insufficient antecedent basis for the limitation “the subscriber identification module” in the claim. In order to overcome this rejection, the Examiner recommends amending claim 1 to recite “the subscriber identity module”. Claims 2-10 depend from claim 1 and are rejected based on the same reasoning.
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, 2, and 4-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Puleri et al. (US 2021/0385188) in view of Kim et al. (US 2012/0077545).
Regarding Claim 1, Puleri teaches a device for use in a mobile radio network-based automation system (Interface device 300 – See Fig. 3), the device having the following features;
a mobile radio communication interface (“4G/5G wireless module, 306” – See [0070]; See also Fig. 3; Interface device 300 includes 4G/5G wireless module 306 (mobile radio communication interface)),
a memory device in which a program is stored which implements an IP-based tunneling protocol (“The memory, 304, contains instructions executable by the processing circuitry, 302, such that the interface device, 300, is operable to split an incoming traffic into a first path carrying native ethernet traffic and a second path carrying IP, internet protocol, traffic. The interface device, 300, is also operable to remap IP addresses of packets of the IP traffic with an IP address of a destination interface device at a remote end of the 3GPP wireless network and to encapsulate the native ethernet traffic into IP traffic with the IP address of the destination interface device at a remote end of the 3GPP wireless network” – See [0077]; “In alternative embodiments other methods of encapsulating can be used, for example methods using VPN, like OpenVPN or IPsec” – See [0067]; Interface device 300 includes memory 304 that contains instructions for performing IP encapsulation/tunneling), and
a control unit which is designed to retrieve the configuration data, to execute the stored program in dependence of the retrieved configuration data and by executing the stored program to cause the device to encapsulate at least one layer 2 protocol data frame ready for transmission in an IP packet and to transfer the IP packet to the mobile radio communication interface for transmission to the remote station (“The source interface device, 502, performs encapsulation of the ethernet frames by attaching an IP header containing an IP address of the wireless network interface of the destination interface device, 506, together with a port number assigned to a decapsulation function, e.g. 10.10.10.2/6001. This forms an IP packet, 704, that is transmitted over the 4G or 5G network towards the destination interface device, 506” – See [0064]; “The memory, 304, contains instructions executable by the processing circuitry, 302, such that the interface device, 300, is operable to split an incoming traffic into a first path carrying native ethernet traffic and a second path carrying IP, internet protocol, traffic. The interface device, 300, is also operable to remap IP addresses of packets of the IP traffic with an IP address of a destination interface device at a remote end of the 3GPP wireless network and to encapsulate the native ethernet traffic into IP traffic with the IP address of the destination interface device at a remote end of the 3GPP wireless network” – See [0077]; “the IP traffic from said first path and said second path is scheduled, 108, for transmission, 110, to the destination interface device, 506, via the 3GPP wireless network and then onwards to the robot, 508. Of course, as mentioned earlier, instead of a robot a sensor or a device in a robotic cell may be the recipient of the traffic from the PLC, 502” – See [0056]; Processing circuitry 302 (control unit) retrieves an IP address (configuration data) assigned to a decapsulation function on the remote side, encapsulates an Ethernet (layer 2) frame into an IP packet, and transfers, towards the destination interface device (remote station), the IP packet via the 3GPP network using the 4G/5G interface (mobile radio communication interface)).
Puleri does not explicitly teach that the device includes a subscriber identity module in which configuration data is stored, the configuration data containing at least one parameter name and a parameter value which is assigned to the at least one parameter name and represents the IP address of the remote station.
However, Kim teaches that the device includes a subscriber identity module in which configuration data is stored, the configuration data containing at least one parameter name and a parameter value which is assigned to the at least one parameter name and represents the IP address of the remote station (“the mobile terminal 100 may receive the local IP address of one or more IP devices 300 from the femtocell 200, may store the local IP address in the SIM card, and may transmit the control command to control a first IP device 300 through the femtocell 200 using the local IP address stored in the SIM card for the first IP device 300” – See [0028]; “Referring to FIG. 5, the information which may be stored in the EF field of the SIM card of the mobile terminal may include the femtocell information and the IP device information. The femtocell information may include ID information 510 of the femtocell and the information 520 about the global IP address of the femtocell. In addition, the IP device information may include the name 530 of the IP device, the local IP address 540 of the IP device and the state information 550 of the IP device” – See [0036]; See also Fig. 1; The device includes a SIM (subscriber identity module) card that stores an IP address of a remote device and a name parameter corresponding to the remote device).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Puleri such that the device includes a subscriber identity module in which configuration data is stored, the configuration data containing at least one parameter name and a parameter value which is assigned to the at least one parameter name and represents the IP address of the remote station. Motivation for doing so would be to allow the device to establish a network with the remote device without having to equip an additional function to the device (See Kim, [0024]).
Regarding Claim 2, Puleri in view of Kim teaches the device of Claim 1. Kim further teaches that the subscriber identity module is a SIM card or an e-SIM module in which the configuration data is stored in a predetermined data structure (“Referring to FIG. 5, the information which may be stored in the EF field of the SIM card of the mobile terminal may include the femtocell information and the IP device information. The femtocell information may include ID information 510 of the femtocell and the information 520 about the global IP address of the femtocell. In addition, the IP device information may include the name 530 of the IP device, the local IP address 540 of the IP device and the state information 550 of the IP device” – See [0036]; The subscriber identity module is a SIM card, wherein the configuration data is stored in an EF field (predetermined data structure)).
Regarding Claim 4, Puleri in view of Kim teaches the device of Claim 1. Puleri further teaches that the device is designed to receive an IP packet containing a layer 2 protocol data frame, which has been formed according to the IP-based tunneling protocol, at the mobile radio communication interface, to decapsulate it and to provide the layer 2 protocol data frame for further processing (“Once the traffic is split, the part on the third path is decapsulated, 204, and the original native ethernet frames are produced after removing the IP header” – See [0073]; See also Fig. 4; The device receives IP packets that encapsulate Ethernet (layer 2) frames at the 4G/5G interface (mobile radio communication interface), and decapsulates them to produce native Ethernet frames for further processing).
Regarding Claim 5, Puleri in view of Kim teaches the device of Claim 1. Puleri further teaches a communication interface configured to transmit and receive layer 2 protocol data frames (See Fig. 4; Interface device 300 (device) includes interface 308 which is an interface capable of transmitting/receiving native Ethernet (layer 2) frames).
Regarding Claim 6, Puleri in view of Kim teaches the device of Claim 5. Puleri further teaches that the communication interface is designed for connection to a communication system implemented according to a layer 2 protocol, the communication system comprising a field bus system (“Communication protocols, e.g. Fieldbus, describe the set of rules to be used in communication between devices” – See [0005]; “The traffic received from the PLC by the source interface device comprise a mixture of IP traffic and ethernet. In a preferred embodiment the ethernet is an industrial ethernet, for example, Profinet, EtherCAT), etc.” – See [0068]; EtherCAT is an Ethernet-based (layer 2) fieldbus system).
Regarding Claim 7, Puleri in view of Kim teaches the device of Claim 5. Puleri further teaches that the layer 2 protocol data frames are Ethernet protocol data frames and that the communication interface is designed in accordance with an Ethernet protocol (“The traffic received from the PLC by the source interface device comprise a mixture of IP traffic and ethernet. In a preferred embodiment the ethernet is an industrial ethernet, for example, Profinet, EtherCAT), etc.” – See [0068]; “The interface device is able to receive industrial ethernet traffic (e.g. Profinet, EtherCAT), adapt it to be sent via mobile wireless communication in an efficient way by encapsulating native ethernet and remapping IP traffic” – See [0053]; The layer 2 frames are Ethernet frames, wherein interface 308 is designed to transmit/receive native Ethernet frames).
Regarding Claim 8, Puleri in view of Kim teaches the device of Claim 1. Puleri further teaches that the device is designed as a router, a field device, a control device or as an I/O module (“for some types of encapsulation the headers of traffic carrying encapsulated ethernet frames comprise encapsulation ID (e.g. VNI in the case of VxLAN encapsulation). If the VxLAN encapsulation is used, the encapsulated native ethernet traffic is defined by the VxLAN identifier (VNI) and the IP address and port of the VxLAN. In this case the traffic splitter behaves like a router. The packets with IP address and port associated to a VxLAN are routed towards the decapsulation function” – See [0072]; Interface device 300 is considered to function as a router and also as an I/O module since it receives traffic as input and transmits the traffic as output).
Regarding Claim 9, Puleri in view of Kim teaches the device of Claim 4. Puleri further teaches that the IP-based tunneling protocol is the Generic Routing Encapsulation network protocol, a VPN (Virtual Private Network) protocol, an IPsec protocol, an L2TP (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol) (“In alternative embodiments other methods of encapsulating can be used, for example methods using VPN, like OpenVPN or IPsec” – See [0067]; The tunneling/encapsulation is performed using VPN, IPsec, etc.).
Regarding Claim 10, Puleri in view of Kim teaches the device of Claim 1. Kim further teaches that the control unit is designed to interpret the associated parameter value as the IP address of the remote station in response to the at least one parameter name and to insert this IP address into a header field of the transmitted IP packet (“The specialized information which may be stored in the EF field of the SIM card unit 110 may include the femtocell information including the ID of the femtocell, a global IP address, and the like received from the femtocell, and the IP device information including the name of the IP device, the local IP address of the IP device, the state of the IP device, and the like” – See [0024]; “The control unit 120 may transmit a control command to the femtocell or the IP device using the local IP address stored in the SIM card unit 110” – See [0025]; The control unit interprets the parameter associated with a parameter name and inserts the IP address into the transmitted IP packet).
Regarding Claim 11, Puleri teaches a mobile radio network-based automation system, comprising:
at least one remote station to which an IP address is assigned (“The source interface device, 502, performs encapsulation of the ethernet frames by attaching an IP header containing an IP address of the wireless network interface of the destination interface device” – See [0064]; See also Fig. 5; Second/destination interface device 506 is a remote station to which an IP address is assigned),
at least one first device (Interface device 300/504 – See Figs. 3 and 5; Interface device 504 is a first device) comprising:
a mobile radio communication interface (“4G/5G wireless module, 306” – See [0070]; See also Fig. 3; Interface device 300/504 includes 4G/5G wireless module 306 (mobile radio communication interface)),
a memory device in which a program is stored which implements an IP-based tunneling protocol (“The memory, 304, contains instructions executable by the processing circuitry, 302, such that the interface device, 300, is operable to split an incoming traffic into a first path carrying native ethernet traffic and a second path carrying IP, internet protocol, traffic. The interface device, 300, is also operable to remap IP addresses of packets of the IP traffic with an IP address of a destination interface device at a remote end of the 3GPP wireless network and to encapsulate the native ethernet traffic into IP traffic with the IP address of the destination interface device at a remote end of the 3GPP wireless network” – See [0077]; “In alternative embodiments other methods of encapsulating can be used, for example methods using VPN, like OpenVPN or IPsec” – See [0067]; Interface device 300/504 includes memory 304 that contains instructions for performing IP encapsulation/tunneling), and
a control unit (Processing circuitry 302 – See Fig. 3),
a mobile radio network (3GPP network 520 – See Fig. 5), wherein:
the control unit of the at least one first device is designed to retrieve the configuration data, to execute the stored program in dependence of the retrieved configuration data and by executing the stored program, to cause the first device to encapsulate at least one layer 2 protocol data frame ready for transmission in an IP packet and to transmit the IP packet to the at least one remote station via the mobile radio communication interface and the mobile radio network (“The source interface device, 502, performs encapsulation of the ethernet frames by attaching an IP header containing an IP address of the wireless network interface of the destination interface device, 506, together with a port number assigned to a decapsulation function, e.g. 10.10.10.2/6001. This forms an IP packet, 704, that is transmitted over the 4G or 5G network towards the destination interface device, 506” – See [0064]; “The memory, 304, contains instructions executable by the processing circuitry, 302, such that the interface device, 300, is operable to split an incoming traffic into a first path carrying native ethernet traffic and a second path carrying IP, internet protocol, traffic. The interface device, 300, is also operable to remap IP addresses of packets of the IP traffic with an IP address of a destination interface device at a remote end of the 3GPP wireless network and to encapsulate the native ethernet traffic into IP traffic with the IP address of the destination interface device at a remote end of the 3GPP wireless network” – See [0077]; “the IP traffic from said first path and said second path is scheduled, 108, for transmission, 110, to the destination interface device, 506, via the 3GPP wireless network and then onwards to the robot, 508. Of course, as mentioned earlier, instead of a robot a sensor or a device in a robotic cell may be the recipient of the traffic from the PLC, 502” – See [0056]; Processing circuitry 302 (control unit) retrieves an IP address (configuration data) assigned to a decapsulation function on the remote side, encapsulates an Ethernet (layer 2) frame into an IP packet, and transfers, towards the destination interface device (remote station), the IP packet via the 3GPP network using the 4G/5G interface (mobile radio communication interface)).
Puleri does not explicitly teach that the first device includes a subscriber identity module in which configuration data is stored, wherein the configuration data contains at least one parameter name and a parameter value which is assigned to the at least one parameter name and represents the IP address of the remote station.
However, Kim teaches that the first device includes a subscriber identity module in which configuration data is stored, wherein the configuration data contains at least one parameter name and a parameter value which is assigned to the at least one parameter name and represents the IP address of the remote station (“the mobile terminal 100 may receive the local IP address of one or more IP devices 300 from the femtocell 200, may store the local IP address in the SIM card, and may transmit the control command to control a first IP device 300 through the femtocell 200 using the local IP address stored in the SIM card for the first IP device 300” – See [0028]; “Referring to FIG. 5, the information which may be stored in the EF field of the SIM card of the mobile terminal may include the femtocell information and the IP device information. The femtocell information may include ID information 510 of the femtocell and the information 520 about the global IP address of the femtocell. In addition, the IP device information may include the name 530 of the IP device, the local IP address 540 of the IP device and the state information 550 of the IP device” – See [0036]; See also Fig. 1; The device includes a SIM (subscriber identity module) card that stores an IP address of a remote device and a name parameter corresponding to the remote device).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Puleri such that the first device includes a subscriber identity module in which configuration data is stored, wherein the configuration data contains at least one parameter name and a parameter value which is assigned to the at least one parameter name and represents the IP address of the remote station for the same reasons as those given with respect to Claim 1.
Regarding Claim 12, Puleri in view of Kim teaches the mobile radio network-based automation system of Claim 11. Puleri further teaches that the remote station is a second device that is designed to receive the IP packet transmitted by the at least one first device, which has been formed according to the IP-based tunneling protocol, at a mobile radio communication interface of the second device, to decapsulate it and to provide the layer 2 protocol data frame contained in the IP packet for further processing (“The source interface device, 502, performs encapsulation of the ethernet frames by attaching an IP header containing an IP address of the wireless network interface of the destination interface device, 506, together with a port number assigned to a decapsulation function, e.g. 10.10.10.2/6001. This forms an IP packet, 704, that is transmitted over the 4G or 5G network towards the destination interface device” – See [0064]; “once the IP header is removed by the decapsulation function then the revealed MAC address is used for forwarding the ethernet frame to its destination robot” – See [0066]; The 4G/5G interface (mobile radio communication interface) of the destination interface device (remote station) receives the IP packet transmitted by the source interface device (first device), wherein the IP packet is formed according to an IP-based tunneling protocol (e.g., VPN, IPsec, etc.), such that the IP packet is decapsulated by the destination interface device to produce Ethernet (layer 2) frames for further processing).
Regarding Claim 13, Puleri in view of Kim teaches the mobile radio network-based automation system of Claim 11. Puleri further teaches that the mobile radio network has an IP-based core network, the remote station being an edge network element, comprising an edge router of the IP-based core network (“IP-based network architecture of LTE/5G” – See [0046]; The 3GPP network is an IP-based network, where the destination interface device (remote station) is an element at the edge of the 3GPP network for routing traffic to other devices), and having:
a first communication interface implemented in accordance with a layer 2 protocol (As shown in Fig. 3, the destination interface device includes interface 308, which is an interface capable of transmitting/receiving native Ethernet (layer 2) frames),
a second communication interface implemented in accordance with the IP protocol (“4G/5G wireless module, 306” – See [0070]; “IP-based network architecture of LTE/5G” – See [0046]; See also Fig. 3; The destination interface device includes 4G/5G wireless module 306 (mobile radio communication interface) for communicating over the IP-based 4G/5G network),
the first communication interface being designed for connecting to a communication system comprising a field bus system, implemented in accordance with the layer 2 protocol (“Communication protocols, e.g. Fieldbus, describe the set of rules to be used in communication between devices” – See [0005]; “The traffic received from the PLC by the source interface device comprise a mixture of IP traffic and ethernet. In a preferred embodiment the ethernet is an industrial ethernet, for example, Profinet, EtherCAT), etc.” – See [0068]; Interface 308 is for connecting to an EtherCAT system, which is an Ethernet-based (layer 2) fieldbus system),
a memory device in which a program implementing the IP-based tunneling protocol is stored, wherein: the remote station is designed to receive the IP packet transmitted by the at least one first device, which has been formed in accordance with the IP-based tunneling protocol, at the second communication interface, to decapsulate it and to provide the layer 2 protocol data frame contained in the IP packet available for forwarding via the first communication interface (“The memory, 304, contains instructions executable by the processing circuitry, 302, such that the interface device, 300, is operable to … decapsulate the native ethernet traffic from the IP traffic on the third path” – See [0080]; “The source interface device, 502, performs encapsulation of the ethernet frames by attaching an IP header containing an IP address of the wireless network interface of the destination interface device, 506, together with a port number assigned to a decapsulation function, e.g. 10.10.10.2/6001. This forms an IP packet, 704, that is transmitted over the 4G or 5G network towards the destination interface device” – See [0064]; “once the IP header is removed by the decapsulation function then the revealed MAC address is used for forwarding the ethernet frame to its destination robot” – See [0066]; The 4G/5G interface (second communication interface) of the destination interface device (remote station) receives the IP packet transmitted by the source interface device (first device), wherein the IP packet is formed according to an IP-based tunneling protocol (e.g., VPN, IPsec, etc.), such that the IP packet is decapsulated by the destination interface device to produce Ethernet (layer 2) frames for forwarding via interface 308 (first communication interface)).
Regarding Claim 14, Puleri in view of Kim teaches the mobile radio network-based automation system of Claim 11. Puleri further teaches that the mobile radio network is a private mobile radio network (“IP tunneling using VXLAN (Virtual eXtensible Local Area Network), VPN (Virtual Private Network) or similar techniques can be used” – See [0047]; A VPN is used for transmitting traffic over the mobile radio network, such that a private network is provided).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Puleri et al. (US 2021/0385188) in view of Kim et al. (US 2012/0077545) and further in view of Fu (US 2009/0239575).
Regarding Claim 3, Puleri in view of Kim teaches the device of Claim 2. Puleri and Kim do not explicitly teach that the subscriber identity module contains a telephone book, wherein the at least one parameter name is entered in a name field and the parameter value is entered in a call number field of the telephone book.
However, Fu teaches that the subscriber identity module contains a telephone book, wherein the at least one parameter name is entered in a name field and the parameter value is entered in a call number field of the telephone book (“An SIM card typically contains user account information, an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) and a set of SIM application toolkit (SAT) commands and provides storage space for phone book contacts” – See [0034]; “Each phonebook entry may comprises a contact name, a destination address … The Name field 601 may be used to store a contact name for another peer user. The Number field 602 may be used to store the destination address of the peer user. The destination address may be a series of predetermined numbers directed to the peer user, such as an IP address” – See [0036]; The SIM contains a phone book, where each entry in the phone book include a name field and a number field for storing a parameter value (e.g., destination IP address of a peer device)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Puleri such that the subscriber identity module contains a telephone book, wherein the at least one parameter name is entered in a name field and the parameter value is entered in a call number field of the telephone book. Motivation for doing so would be to use the data structures already provided in a SIM card to store preferences for connecting with a remote device (See Fu, [0034]).
Conclusion
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/SCOTT M SCIACCA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478