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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 2/17/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 21-40 under 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Wu.
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 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.
Claim(s) 21-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pelletier (US Patent Pub. 20140056243) in view of Wu (US Patent Pub. 2016/0309455).
As per claims 21 and 30: Pelletier discloses a device comprising:
a processor (fig. 1b 118; processor); and
a memory coupled with the processor, the memory storing executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising (fig. 1b 130, 132; memory):
receiving information associated with a communication (paragraph; 87; Data that transmitted to (or received from) a serving site for a WTRU may be provided to (passed from) a core network (e.g., a serving gateway (S-GW)));
based on the radio protocol data type, selecting, for performing a security function on the information, one or more input parameters specific to the radio protocol data type (Paragraph 412; the COUNT input parameter may be selected as a function of the COUNT of the PDCP entity corresponding to the radio bearer on which data is being ciphered and another parameter that is indicative of which layer the RB is associated with); and
performing the security function on the information using the one or more input parameters specific to the radio protocol data type (Paragraph 412; data is being ciphered based on input parameters).
Pelletier does not specifically disclose determining a radio protocol data type of a plurality of radio protocol data types associated with the information transmitted in the communication, wherein the plurality of radio protocol data types comprise radio link control (RLC) protocol data unit (PDU), medium access control (MAC) PDU, a physical layer (PHY) PDU, header of control PDU, header of RLC PDU, header of MAC PCU, header of packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) PDU, or radio resource control (RRC) message using common control channel (CCCH) (See Wu, Paragraph 34; The control signal may be any message such as a radio resource control (RRC) message, a MAC control element in a MAC PDU, a MAC control PDU or a physical layer signaling (e.g., DL control information), and is not limited herein).
Therefore, it 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, having the teachings of Pelletier and Wu in it’s entirety, to modify the technique of Pelletier for wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) to operate in a wireless communication systems by adopting Wu's teaching control signal may be any message such as a radio resource control (RRC) message, a MAC control element in a MAC PDU, a MAC control PDU or a physical layer signaling (e.g., DL control information). The motivation would have been to improve NR security enhancements.
As per claims 22 and 31: The combination of Pelletier and Wu discloses the device of claim 21, wherein the security function comprises a ciphering protection function (Paragraph 409; ciphering of user data (DRB) transferred between the SCeNB and WTRU).
As per claims 23 and 32: The combination of Pelletier and Wu discloses the device of claim 21, wherein the security function comprises an integrity protection function (Paragraph 414; integrity protection of SRBs).
As per claims 24 and 33: The combination of Pelletier and Wu discloses the device of claim 21, wherein the one or more input parameters comprises a bearer parameter (Paragraph 8; respective BEARER parameter used for ciphering transmissions).
As per claims 25 and 34: The combination of Pelletier and Wu discloses the device of claim 21, wherein the one or more input parameters comprises a count parameter (Paragraph 412; count parameter).
As per claims 26 and 35: The combination of Pelletier and Wu discloses the device of claim 21, wherein the one or more input parameters comprises a message parameter (Paragraph 404; integrity protection algorithm).
As per claims 27 and 36: The combination of Pelletier and Wu discloses the device of claim 21, wherein the one or more input parameters comprises bearer identifier associated with a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) (Paragraph 8; the WTRU may be configured to use a different BEARER parameter for each of the first PDCP instance associated with the first serving site and the second PDCP instance associated with the second serving site).
As per claims 28: The combination of Pelletier and Wu discloses the device of claim 21, wherein the device comprises a wireless transmit/receive unit (paragraph 12; FIG. 1B is a system diagram of an example wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A).
As per claims 29: The combination of Pelletier and Wu discloses the device of claim 21, wherein the one or more input parameters comprises a count parameter composed of a concatenation of a sequence number of packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) (Paragraph 184; the MAC instance may perform segmentation and concatenation of RLC PDUs) (Paragraph 184; The MAC header may include a sequence number for each MAC PDU. The WTRU may reorder the MAC PDUs and reassemble the MAC SDUs, for example based on the sequence number).
As per claims 37: The combination of Pelletier and Wu discloses the method of claim 30, wherein the control PDU comprises a backhaul adaptation protocol (BAP) Control PDU (Paragraph 341; backhaul link).
As per claims 38: The combination of Pelletier and Wu discloses the method of claim 30, wherein the one or more input parameters comprises a bearer identifier (ID) and logical channel ID (Paragraph 411; In an example, a different 5-bit bearer identity input parameter (e.g., BEARER) may be used for ciphering than the configured RB identity parameter. For example, the 5-bit bearer identity input parameter used for ciphering may be selected based on the RB identity and the identity of the layer that the bearer is associated with).
As per claims 39: The combination of Pelletier and Wu discloses the method of claim 30, wherein the one or more input parameters comprises a logical channel identifier (ID) and cell ID (Paragraph 396; the measurement report may include one or more of an identifier of the signal being measured, an identifier of the cell being measured, an indication of the type of signal measured, an indication of the type of cell measured, an indication of a property of the signal detected, and indication of a property of the cell detected, and/or the like).
As per claims 40: The combination of Pelletier and Wu discloses the method of claim 30, wherein the one or more input parameters comprises a cell group identifier (ID) (Paragraph 396; the measurement report may include one or more of an identifier of the signal being measured, an identifier of the cell being measured, an indication of the type of signal measured, an indication of the type of cell measured, an indication of a property of the signal detected, and indication of a property of the cell detected, and/or the like).
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.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY D BROWN whose telephone number is (571)270-1472. The examiner can normally be reached 730-330pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Linglan Edwards can be reached at 5712705440. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANTHONY D BROWN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2408