Detailed Action
1. This Office Action is responsive to the Amendment filed 05/18/2026. Claims 1-20 are presented for examination. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
2. 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.
3. Claims 1-7 and 9-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu (US 2015/0229699 A1), in view of Schmidt et al. (US 2020/0053578 A1), hereinafter “Schmidt”.
4. As to claim 1, Liu teaches a method comprising:
receiving, by a computing device (linking system 102), a message indicative of a user identifier associated with a user device (second device 105) and a network address ([0038] and [0048]: receive a request from a second device 105 comprising a user/device identifier 108b can identify a user or user device as belonging to a particular class of users or user devices, [0039]: wherein the user/device identifier 108b comprises an address element 109b providing an IP address, a network address, a MAC address, an Internet address or the like to establish a communication session between the second device 105 and other network devices or systems, such as the content provider 101).
Liu does not explicitly teach “receiving a message indicative of a network address associated with a first network device located at a premises”.
In an analogous art, Schmidt discloses that in response to receiving a request for a client device, the server may cross-reference the account identifier or client device identifier provided with the request from the client device to determine the associated gateway (i.e.., first network device) and the external IP address of the gateway (i.e., receiving a message indicative of a network address associated with a first network device located at a premises) (Schmidt, [0041]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Liu and Schmidt to achieve the claimed invention to allow the system to facilitate a process to verify that the client device is able to communicate user data with the trusted gateway instead of a untrusted gateway to avoid personal/confidential information being intercepted.
Liu in view of Schmidt further teaches:
determining, based on the user identifier, that the user device is associated with at least one tier of service (Liu, [0039-0040]: the user/device identifier 108b comprising a service element 110b identifying a service provider associated with the respective device and/or with the class of device. The class of device can be related/associated to a type of device, capability of device, type of service being provided, and/or a level of service (e.g., business class, service tier, service package, etc.)); and
causing, based on the network address associated with the first network device, establishment of at least one service flow between the user device and a second network device (content provider 101) located external to the premises (Liu, [0050-0051]: Upon receiving the request for information from a second device 105, the linking system 102 can authenticate the user of the second device 105 by transmitting all or a portion of the request for information (e.g., user identifier, device identifier of the second device 105, wherein the network address of the gateway derived from the user/device identifier 108b comprised in the request disclosed by Schmidt) to the billing system 106 for determining if the device identifiers in the request for information and the trigger signal are associated with the same user … the access content can be transmitted from the content provider 101 to the second device 105 directly or via the linking system 102), wherein the at least one service flow is associated with the at least one tier of service (Liu, [0040]: the service element 110b can comprise an identification of a service provider associated with the respective device and/or with the class of device. The class of device can be related to a level of service (e.g., business class, service tier, service package, etc.) As an example, the service element 110b can comprise information relating to a preferred service provider for one or more particular services relating to the respective device).
5. As to claim 2, Liu-Schmidt teaches the method of claim 1, wherein receiving, by the computing device, the message indicative of the user identifier associated with the user device and the network address associated with the first network device comprises receiving the message from the user device (Liu, [0048]: receive a request from a second device 105; Schmidt, [0038]: the request may be sent by the client device to a server).
6. As to claim 3, Liu-Schmidt teaches the method of claim 1, wherein determining, based on the user identifier, that the user device is associated with the at least one tier of service comprises determining that the user identifier corresponds to a service entity that provides the at least one tier of service to a group of devices (Liu, [0039-0040]: the user/device identifier 108b comprising a service element 110b identifying a service provider associated with the respective device and/or with the class of device. The class of device can be related to a type of device, capability of device, type of service being provided, and/or a level of service (e.g., business class, service tier, service package, etc.))
7. As to claim 4, Liu-Schmidt teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, based on the user identifier, at least one service flow identifier associated with establishment of the at least one service flow (Liu, [0040]: user/device identifier 108b comprising a service element 110b identifying a service provider associated with the respective device and/or with the class of device. As an example, the service element 110b can comprise information relating to or provided by a content service provider that is providing/enabling data flow such as communication services to the respective device).
8. As to claim 5, Liu-Schmidt teaches the method of claim 1, wherein causing, based on the network address associated with the first network device, establishment of the at least one service flow between the second network device and the user device comprises sending the network address associated with the first network device to the second network device (Liu, [0032], [0036-0057]: the linking system 102 can transmit a user identifier and/or device identifier associated with the first/second device 104/105 to the billing system 106 to determine whether the user of the first/second device 104/105 is entitled to access the requested content, wherein the billing system 106, the content provider 101 and the linking system 102 can be implemented in the same network entity).
9. As to claim 6, Liu-Schmidt teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the second network device is configured to establish the at least one service flow between the second network device and the user device based on determining that the network address associated with the first network device is associated with the at least one tier of service (Liu, [0040]: the service element 110b can comprise an identification of a service provider associated with the respective device and/or with the class of device. The class of device can be related to a level of service (e.g., business class, service tier, service package, etc.) As an example, the service element 110b can comprise information relating to a preferred service provider for one or more particular services relating to the respective device).
10. As to claim 7, Liu-Schmidt teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the at least one service flow comprises a first service flow associated with upstream traffic and a second service flow associated with downstream traffic (Liu, [0039]: the address element 109b can be relied upon to establish a communication session (upstream traffic-request second content and downstream traffic-receive second content from the content provider 101) between the second device 105 and other network devices or systems, such as the content provider 101, or the linking system 102).
11. As to claim 9, Liu-Schmidt teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the user identifier comprises an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) (Liu, [0030]: the second device 105 can comprise a set-top box, smart phone, computer, tablet, mobile device, PDA, television, or the like; [0065]: the request for information can comprise a user/device identifier 108b including address element 109b of the second device 105b, when the second device 105 is a mobile/smart phone, then the user/device identifier 108b should include an IMSI).
12. As to claim 10, Liu-Schmidt teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the network address comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address ([0039]: the address element 109b can comprise or provide an internet protocol (IP) address, a network address, a media access control MAC address, an Internet address, or the like).
13. As to claim 11, Liu-Schmidt teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the first network device comprises at least one of a router device, a gateway device, a computing device, or an access point, and wherein the second network device comprises at least one of a gateway device, a computing device, or an access point ([0033] and [0079]: the network device 103 and the content provider 101 can be a personal computer, portable computer, server, router, network computer, peer device, other common network node, and the like).
14. As to claim 12, Liu-Schmidt teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the computing device comprises a server device located external to the premises ([0031]: the linking system 102 can be a personal computer, portable computer, server, router, network computer, peer device, common network node, and the like).
15. As to claims 13-15, claims 13-15 recite similar limitations as of claims 1, 4 and 7 and do not contain any additional limitations with respect to novelty and/or inventive steps; therefore, they are rejected under the same rationale.
16. As to claim 16, Liu-Schmidt teaches the method of claim 13, further comprising: determining, based on the network address, a device identifier associated with the first network device; and causing storage of an association between the device identifier associated with the first network device and the at least one service flow (Schmidt, [0041-0042]: the server may cross-reference the account/user identifier or the client device identifier provided with the request from the client device to determine the associated gateway and the external IP address of the gateway. At step 204, gateway data such as gateway identifier associated with the gateway may be determined; [0044]: the server may maintain a database that may store URLs, each comprising a non-routable address and/or a first gateway identifiers).
17. As to claims 17-19, claims 17-19 recite similar limitations as of claims 1, 3 and 7 and do not contain any additional limitations with respect to novelty and/or inventive steps; therefore, they are rejected under the same rationale.
18. Claims 8 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu-Schmidt, in view of Siddiqui et al. (US 2018/0288077 A1), hereinafter “Siddiqui”.
19. As to claim 8, Liu-Schmidt teaches the method of claim 1, but does not explicitly teach “the at least one tier of service is associated with one or more of an increased download speed, an increased upload speed, a spam filtering service, a malware detection service, or a parental control service”.
In an analogous art, Siddiqui teaches “the at least one tier of service is associated with one or more of an increased download speed, an increased upload speed, a spam filtering service, a malware detection service, or a parental control service” ([0036]: The customer can pay a premium fee to obtain a higher subscription level that guarantees minimal delays (low latencies) for commencement or completion of analysis of submissions; [0037]: the malware detection system may limit the data submissions based on a prescribed amount of content based on the level of service per the subscription (e.g., 1 gigabytes/second “GPS” of traffic for Tier 1 service level and 2 GPS for Tier 2 service level).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Siddiqui, into Liu-Schmidt’s to achieve “the at least one tier of service is associated with one or more of an increased download speed, an increased upload speed, a spam filtering service, a malware detection service, or a parental control service” to allow the system to provide different levels of services to users based on their corresponding subscription fees.
20. As to claim 20, claim 20 recites similar limitations as of claim 8 and does not contain any additional limitations with respect to novelty and/or inventive steps; therefore, it is rejected under the same rationale.
Response to Arguments
21. Applicant’s arguments filed 05/18/2026 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground of rejection.
22. Further references of interest are cited on Form PTO-892, which is an attachment to this Office Action.
23. A shortened statutory period for reply to this action is set to expire THREE (3) months from the mailing date of this communication. See 37 CFR 1.134.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUANG N NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571) 272-3886.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s SPE, KAMAL B. DIVECHA, can be reached at (571) 272-5863. The fax phone number for the organization is (571) 273-8300.
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/QUANG N NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2453
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