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 .
Election/Restriction
Applicant’s provisional election of group III claims 19-20 and 27-32 without traverse in the telephone conversation with Alex Wolcott on 4/9/26 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement in Applicant’s response filed on 8/20/26, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 8 of 11, with respect to claim 27 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The claim objection of claim 27 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see page 8 of 11, with respect to claims 27-32 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) of claims 27-32 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 8-10 of 11, with respect to claim(s) 19-20 and 27-32 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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) was/were submitted on 5/11/26. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim(s) 19-20 and 27-32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 19, Applicant has amended this claim to now recite “non-access stratum container types received from the one or more network entities”. Applicant state that support is found in ¶ 21, 25, 30, and 41 of the specification. After a review of these paragraphs and the rest of the specification, the Examiner could not find support for the above feature. Claims 20 and 27-32 fails to resolve the deficiency of claim 19 and are thus rejected under similar rationale.
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.
Claim(s) 19-20 and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2018/64479 by Watfa et al. (hereinafter Watfa) in view of US 20130265937 by Jain et al. (hereinafter Jain).
Regarding claim 19, Watfa teaches an apparatus comprising (¶ 30, FIG. 1 B is a system diagram illustrating an example WTRU):
processing circuitry including at least one processor (¶ 30, WTRU 102 may include a processor 118);
and at least one memory including computer program code (¶ 30, WTRU 102 may include…non-removable memory 130; ¶ 34, The non-removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device; ¶ 182, processes described above may be implemented in a computer program, software, and/or firmware incorporated in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computer and/or processor. Examples of computer-readable media include, but are not limited to…computer-readable storage media. Examples of computer- readable storage media include, but are not limited to, a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM)),
the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processing circuitry, cause the apparatus at least to (¶ 30; ¶ 34; ¶ 182):
receive one or more non-access stratum temporary identifiers from one or more network entities (fig. 5, WTRU receiving at 518 an Attach Accept containing Temp ID from RAN; ¶ 118, an NAS Temp ID that may point to a serving CCNF/AMF),
wherein each non-access stratum temporary identifier or non-access stratum container type is indicative of a non-access stratum termination point (¶ 118, an NAS Temp ID that may point to a serving CCNF/AMF);
and cause the one or more non-access stratum temporary identifiers (fig. 5, WTRU receiving at 518 an Attach Accept containing Temp ID from RAN. Although not explicitly stated, since the WTRU has the Temp ID, the WTRU must store the received Temp ID at least temporarily).
Although Watfa teaches cause the one or more non-access stratum temporary identifiers to be stored and the one or more network entities, Watfa does not explicitly teach cause the one or more non-access stratum temporary identifiers and non-access stratum container types received from the one or more network entities to be stored.
Jain in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches cause non-access stratum container types received from one or more network entities to be stored (¶ 35, Various mechanisms within the wireless device (e.g., UE) can be used to allow the network to communicate with the wireless device using NAS signaling messages; ¶ 36, network can use a "Downlink Generic NAS Transport" message, and add a generic message container type information element for various container types… as illustrated below and in Table 1; Table 1; ¶ 39, When the wireless device receives a message with a generic message container type. Although not explicitly stated, since the wireless device/UE receives NAS signaling messages with container types, the wireless device/UE has these NAS signaling messages with container types which means the wireless device/UE must in some way store these NAS signaling messages with container types within itself and the claim does not indicate in what way/how non-access stratum container types are stored). By modifying Watfa’s teachings of the one or more non-access stratum temporary identifiers to be stored and the one or more network entities with Jain’s teachings of cause non-access stratum container types received from one or more network entities to be stored, the modification results in cause the one or more non-access stratum temporary identifiers and non-access stratum container types received from the one or more network entities to be stored.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Watfa’s teachings with Jain’s above teachings. The motivation is providing a machine type communication (MTC) service via a non-access stratum (NAS) layer (Jain abstract). Known work in one field of endeavor (Jain prior art) may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one (Watfa prior art) based on design incentives (providing a machine type communication (MTC) service via a non-access stratum (NAS) layer) or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one or ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 20, the combination teaches the apparatus of claim 19, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the processing circuitry, further cause the apparatus at least to (Watfa ¶ 30; ¶ 34, ¶ 182): cause one of the one or more stored non-access stratum temporary identifiers to be provided in a non-access stratum message (Watfa ¶ 130, At 524, the WTRU may initiate a new NAS connection, for example, using the Temp ID that may be received in the last Attach Accept of an NAS Accept message; fig. 5, at step 524 a WTRU sending a NAS message including assigned Temp ID; ¶ 118, an NAS Temp ID that may point to a serving CCNF/AMF).
Regarding claim 30, the combination teaches the apparatus of claim 19, wherein a provided stored non-access stratum temporary identifier corresponds to an access and mobility management non- access stratum temporary identifier (Watfa ¶ 118, an NAS Temp ID that may point to a serving CCNF/AMF).
Claim(s) 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watfa and Jain and in further view of US 20230076078 by Watfa (hereinafter ‘078).
Regarding claim 28, the combination teaches the apparatus of claim 19, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with processing circuitry, further cause the apparatus at least to perform (Watfa ¶ 30; ¶ 34, ¶ 182): select the stored one or more non-access stratum temporary identifiers to be provided in a non-access stratum message (Watfa ¶ 130, At 524, the WTRU may initiate a new NAS connection, for example, using the Temp ID that may be received in the last Attach Accept of an NAS Accept message; fig. 5, at step 524 a WTRU sending a NAS message including assigned Temp ID; ¶ 118, an NAS Temp ID that may point to a serving CCNF/AMF).
Although the combination teaches select the stored one or more non-access stratum temporary identifiers to be provided in a non-access stratum message, the combination does not explicitly disclose select the stored one or more non-access stratum temporary identifiers to be provided in a non-access stratum message based at least in part on a type of non-access stratum message.
‘078 in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches select a temporary identifier to be provided in a message based at least in part on a type of non-access stratum message (¶ 208, if a message of a certain type (e.g. NAS message) is not transmitted…receiving a new temporary identity for the UE; ¶ 209, allocating a new temporary identity to the UE and transmitting the allocated temporary identity to the UE). By modifying the combination’s teachings of select the stored one or more non-access stratum temporary identifiers to be provided in a non-access stratum message with ‘078’s teachings of select a temporary identifier to be provided in a message based at least in part on a type of non-access stratum message, the modification results in select the stored one or more non-access stratum temporary identifiers to be provided in a non-access stratum message based at least in part on a type of non-access stratum message.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with ‘078’s above teachings. The motivation is providing enhanced user confidentiality in 3GPP 5GS (‘078 ¶ 1). Known work in one field of endeavor (‘078 prior art) may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one (Watfa prior art) based on design incentives (provide enhanced user confidentiality in 3GPP 5GS) or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one or ordinary skill in the art.
Claim(s) 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watfa and Jain and in further view of WO 2020020007 by Mao (see attached English translation document of WO 2020020007).
Regarding claim 29, the combination teaches the apparatus of claim 19.
Although the combination teaches the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with processing circuitry, further cause the apparatus at least to perform (Watfa ¶ 30; ¶ 34, ¶ 182), the combination does not explicitly disclose but Mao in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches terminate non-access stratum security that is dedicated to a non-access stratum connection between a user device and the said non-access stratum termination point (page 13, the NAS secure channel between the UE and the default AMF is removed to ensure the security during the NSSAI transmission process).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Mao’s above teachings. The motivation is ensuring security during NSSAI transmission process (Mao page 13). Known work in one field of endeavor (Mao prior art) may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one (Watfa prior art) based on design incentives (ensuring security during NSSAI transmission process) or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one or ordinary skill in the art.
Claim(s) 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watfa and Jain and in further view of US 20200314616 by Lovsen and in further view of US 20220264444 by Ryu et al. (hereinafter Ryu).
Regarding claim 31, the combination teaches the apparatus of claim 19.
Although the combination teaches wherein a provided stored non-access stratum temporary identifier corresponds to a non-access stratum temporary identifier in an instance a non-access stratum message is a non-access stratum message (Watfa ¶ 130, At 524, the WTRU may initiate a new NAS connection, for example, using the Temp ID that may be received in the last Attach Accept of an NAS Accept message; fig. 5, at step 524 a WTRU sending a NAS message including assigned Temp ID; ¶ 118, an NAS Temp ID that may point to a serving CCNF/AMF. Although not explicitly stated, since the WTRU has the Temp ID, the WTRU must store the received Temp ID at least temporarily), the combination does not explicitly disclose a provided stored non-access stratum temporary identifier corresponds to a session management non-access stratum temporary identifier in an instance a non-access stratum message is a session management non-access stratum message.
Lovsen in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches a temporary identifier corresponds to a session management temporary identifier (¶ 149, a temporary ID may be formed so that the SMF destination can be derived from the temporary ID; ¶ 173, a temporary ID that can be used for SMF addressing; ¶ 212, encoding in the temporary ID that indicates what specific SMF 108 to receive the request; ¶ 268, The SMF ID may be optionally “encoded” in the temporary ID). By modifying the combination’s teachings of a provided stored non-access stratum temporary identifier corresponds to a non-access stratum temporary identifier in an instance a non-access stratum message is a non-access stratum message with Lovsen’s teachings of a temporary identifier corresponds to a session management temporary identifier, the modification results in a provided stored non-access stratum temporary identifier corresponds to a session management non-access stratum temporary identifier in an instance a non-access stratum message is a non-access stratum message.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Lovsen’s above teachings. The motivation is improving handling of connectivity to a DN (Lovsen ¶ 30). Known work in one field of endeavor (Watfa prior art) may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one (Lovsen prior art) based on design incentives (improve handling of connectivity to a DN) or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one or ordinary skill in the art.
Although the combination teaches a provided stored non-access stratum temporary identifier corresponds to a session management non-access stratum temporary identifier in an instance a non-access stratum message is a non-access stratum message, the combination does not explicitly disclose a provided stored non-access stratum temporary identifier corresponds to a session management non-access stratum temporary identifier in an instance a non-access stratum message is a session management non-access stratum message.
Ryu in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches in an instance a non-access stratum message is a session management non-access stratum message (¶ 280, uplink NAS transport message may comprise…a payload container type…The payload container type may indicate a type of payload included in the payload container (e.g. payload container IE). In an example, the payload container type may comprise a N1 SM information). By modifying the combination’s teachings of a provided stored non-access stratum temporary identifier corresponds to a session management non-access stratum temporary identifier in an instance a non-access stratum message is a non-access stratum message with Ryu’s teachings of in an instance a non-access stratum message is a session management non-access stratum message, the modification results in a provided stored non-access stratum temporary identifier corresponds to a session management non-access stratum temporary identifier in an instance the non-access stratum message is a session management non-access stratum message.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Ryu’s above teachings. The motivation is reducing delay and signaling overhead (Ryu ¶ 296). Known work in one field of endeavor (Ryu prior art) may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one (Watfa prior art) based on design incentives (reduce delay and signaling overhead) or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one or ordinary skill in the art.
Claim(s) 32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watfa and Jain and in further view of US 20220264444 by Ryu et al. (hereinafter Ryu).
Regarding claim 32, the combination teaches the apparatus of claim 19.
Although the combination teaches wherein a provided stored non-access stratum temporary identifier corresponds to an access and mobility management non-access stratum temporary identifier in an instance a non-access stratum message is a non-access stratum message (Watfa ¶ 130, At 524, the WTRU may initiate a new NAS connection, for example, using the Temp ID that may be received in the last Attach Accept of an NAS Accept message; fig. 5, at step 524 a WTRU sending a NAS message including assigned Temp ID; ¶ 118, an NAS Temp ID that may point to a serving CCNF/AMF. Although not explicitly stated, since the WTRU has the Temp ID, the WTRU must store the received Temp ID at least temporarily), the combination does not explicitly disclose a provided stored non-access stratum temporary identifier corresponds to an access and mobility management non-access stratum temporary identifier in an instance a non-access stratum message is a protocol data unit session establishment non-access stratum message.
Ryu in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches in an instance a non-access stratum message is a protocol data unit session establishment non-access stratum message (¶ 245, UE 100 may send to the AMF 155 a NAS Message 1205 (or a SM NAS message) comprising…N1 SM container (PDU session establishment request), and/or the like). By modifying the combination’s teachings of a provided stored non-access stratum temporary identifier corresponds to an access and mobility management non-access stratum temporary identifier in an instance a non-access stratum message is a non-access stratum message with Ryu’s teachings of a non-access stratum message is a protocol data unit session establishment non-access stratum message, the modification results in a provided stored non-access stratum temporary identifier corresponds to an access and mobility management non-access stratum temporary identifier in an instance a non-access stratum message is a protocol data unit session establishment non-access stratum message.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Ryu’s above teachings. The motivation is reducing delay and signaling overhead (Ryu ¶ 296). Known work in one field of endeavor (Ryu prior art) may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one (Watfa prior art) based on design incentives (reduce delay and signaling overhead) or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one or ordinary skill in the art.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 27 would be allowable if Applicant provides support within the specification for “non-access stratum container types received from the one or more network entities” of claim 19 that overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 1st paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
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 PETER P CHAU whose telephone number is (571)270-7152. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30 A.M - 6 P.M. ET M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayaz Sheikh can be reached at 571-272-3795. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PETER P CHAU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
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