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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 06/03/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Claim(s) 1,8, 13 and 15 are amended.
Claim(s) 4,14 and 19 are canceled.
Claim(s) 23 is newly added
Claim(s) 1-3,5-13,15-18,20-23 are currently pending
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-22 have been considered but are not persuasive.
Applicant’s arguments (Examiner emphasis – Bold)
Argument 1: (Summary of pages 8-9)
…Applicant argues PADEBETTU, ZHANG, and SCHMIDT do not teach that the access gateway function operates in both an adaptive mode and a direct mode. Furthermore, PADEBETTU, ZHANG, and SCHMIDT do not teach that an adaptive mode occurs when the one or more routing gateways are fixed network residential gateways and a direct mode occurs when the one or more routing gateways are fifth generation residential gateways. Independent claim 15, as amended, recites similar features. Therefore, independent claims 1 and 15, and the claims that depend thereon, are patentable over the cited sections of the applied references.
Response:
Examiner respectfully disagrees.
See updated rejection of claim 1.
In particular, Sanchez et al. (WO 2022008103 A1), in fig. 1, [0041] explicitly discloses an Access Gateway Function that operates in two modes (adaptive and direct mode). The Access Gateway Function (AGF-U 65) operates in an adaptive mode when it is connected to a Fixed Network Residential Gateway (FN-RG 55) and the Access Gateway Function (AGF-U- 35) operate in direct mode when it is connected to a 5G – residential gateway 30). Therefore, the combination of the Padebettu, Zhang, Schmidt and Sanchez disclose all of the limitations of claim 1 as currently amended.
Argument 2: (Summary of pages 9-10)
…Applicant argues that in the Examiner's rejection, the cited sections of the applied references, whether taken alone or in any reasonable combination, do not disclose at least "encapsulate the upstream packets with an identifier of a layer 2 tunnel per subscriber, based on the network address, and to generate encapsulated upstream packets, wherein each multiple dwelling unit is treated as a unique subscriber based on the identifier inserted by the device, and wherein the identifier of the layer 2 tunnel includes a service provider network virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier or a customer network VLAN identifier," as recited in claim 8, as amended.
Response:
Examiner respectfully disagrees.
See updated rejection of claim 8.
In particular, Schmidt [0006;0010] discloses a Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) gateway in a Multiple Dwelling Unit (MDU) that is capable of managing data traffic for various users and devices. Traffic/packets are encapsulated with a subscriber account that uniquely identifies/associates each packet with each subscriber in a Multiple Dwelling Unit (MDU). Furthermore, in fig. 2, [0046-0048] VLAN tags are encapsulated into packets and used to identifier in layer 2 tunnels for routing packets to subscribers that are uniquely identified using the subscriber’s account. The FWA gateway can encapsulate the responsive data within a VLAN-tagged packet, utilizing the same VLAN tag as the initial packet received in step 208, or a different VLAN tag based on the network configuration or the instructions received from the core network. The VLAN tag can serve as an identifier for routing the packet within the LAN and for potentially determining any subsequent network slice requirements should the data transfer process continue or evolve until the packet arrives at destined subscriber based on the subscriber’s account information.
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) 1-3,5-6,15-18,20 and 22-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Padebettu (US 2021/0321469 A1), in view of Zhang et al. (US 2022/0086236 A1), in view of Schmidt et al. (US 2025/0133446 A1), further in view of Sanchez et al. (WO 2022008103 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Padebettu discloses a method (Padebettu, [Abstract] discloses a method for receiving messages from a device by a network device and transmitting the message to another network device based on an identification information associated with the device and identification information associated with the packet data unit (PDU) session of the device), comprising:
configuring, in a device (Fig. 1B – AGF), a network address of an access gateway function (Padebettu [0014], a core network 100 includes a device that is configured with an access gateway function (AGF) to receive encapsulated packets from client devices);
receiving, by the device (Fig. 1B – AGF), upstream packets (uplink messages) from one or more routing gateways (Residential gateway) associated with a multiple dwelling unit (multiple clients served by Residential gateways) (Padebettu, fig. 1B – 1D, [0014;0016], client devices such as residential gateways (RGs) send encapsulated packets to the device configured with an access gateway function (AGF), the encapsulated packet includes a session identifier and/or a tunnel identifier. Residential gateways frequently serve multiple dwelling units by providing access points to different networks);
encapsulating, by the device (Client device/Residential gateway), the upstream packets with an identifier of a layer 2 tunnel (encapsulated L2TP packets), based on the network address, and to generate encapsulated upstream packets (Padebettu, figs. 1B;1H [0014;0016;0019], client devices such as residential gateways (RGs) include identifiers in a packet to generate encapsulated packets and send the packets uplink to a device configured with an access gateway function (AGF). The client device encapsulates each packet with a session identifier, a layer 2 tunneling protocol (L2TP) packet/tunnel identifier, a source/destination MAC address and a source/destination IP addresses. The encapsulated packets are sent upstream to the AGF); and
providing, by the device (client device/Residential gateway), the encapsulated upstream packets (encapsulated packets sent upstream to AGF) to the access gateway function (AGF), via the layer 2 tunnel (L2TP/Tunnel ID) and based on the network address (source/destination IP address) and the identifier (session ID) (Padebettu, figs. 1B;1H [0014;0016;0019], client device provides the encapsulated packets via the AGF, where the encapsulated packets include a session identifier, a layer 2 tunneling protocol (L2TP) packet/tunnel identifier, a source/destination MAC address and a source/destination IP addresses. The encapsulated packets are sent upstream to the AGF. The AGF may process (e.g., parse) the L2TP packet to determine a tunnel identifier and a session identifier included in the L2TP packet (e.g., in a “Tunnel ID” field and a “Session ID” field of the L2TP packet as shown in FIG. 1L). The AGF may determine, based on the tunnel identifier and the session identifier, the identification information associated with the client device).
While Padebettu discloses the concept of providing by the device, the encapsulated upstream packets to the access gateway function, Zhang more explicitly discloses providing, by the device, the encapsulated upstream packets to the access gateway function via the layer 2 tunnel and based on network address and identifier.
Zhang discloses providing, by the device (terminal device), the encapsulated upstream packets (encapsulated upstream packet) to the access gateway function (Access gateway) via the layer 2 tunnel (GRE tunnel) and based on network address and identifier (session information/ (Zhang, figs. 5A-5D, [0350-0355] after step 510 and step 511, the interworking function network element-user plane and the access network gateway can determine that the data packet to be transmitted through the user plane connection is processed by using the data encapsulation information. For an uplink data packet, the access network gateway may encapsulate the uplink data packet by using the GRE protocol header, and send an uplink data packet encapsulated by using the GRE protocol header to the interworking function network element-user plane through the GRE tunnel. [0378-380] using the GRE tunnel, the terminal device provides an uplink encapsulated packet, the packet includes session information, terminal identifier information, a GTP-u tunnel identifier and an IP address).
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Padebettu and Zhang because these teachings are from the same field of endeavor with respect to disclosing techniques for providing broadband access to residential gateways.
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the strategies by Zhang into the invention of Padebettu. The motivation would have been to enable determining, by an interworking function network element-control plane, granularity information of a user plane connection between an interworking function network element-user plane and an access network gateway, Zhang, [Abstract].
Padebettu, figs. 1B;1H [0014;0016;0019] discloses encapsulating, by the device, the upstream packets with an identifier of a layer 2 tunnel.
Padebettu and Zhang did not explicitly disclose “subscriber”; wherein the multiple dwelling unit is treated as a subscriber.
Schmidt discloses wherein the multiple dwelling unit is treated as a subscriber (Schmidt [0006;0010] a Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) gateway in a Multiple Dwelling Unit (MDU) that is capable of managing data traffic for various users and devices. A cellular base station detects the attachment of the FWA gateway. Based on the attachment of the FWA gateway, the cellular base station determines a traffic cap to apply. This traffic cap can be determined based on a subscriber account (e.g., price plan) associated with the MDU. A specialized traffic cap can be designed to accommodate potentially higher traffic demands typical of a multi-dwelling environment compared to a single-subscriber scenario);
encapsulating, by the device (Host device), the upstream packets (208) with an identifier of a layer 2 tunnel (VLAN tag) for the subscriber (receiver), based on the network address (VLAN tag), and to generate encapsulated upstream packets (Schmidt, fig.2, [0046-0048] at step 208, a host device encapsulates a packet with a VLAN tag to generate an upstream request packet. At step 226, the FWA gateway transmits the VLAN-tagged packet back to the receiver/subscriber that includes the responsive data. The FWA gateway can encapsulate the responsive data within a VLAN-tagged packet, utilizing the same VLAN tag as the initial packet received in step 208, or a different VLAN tag based on the network configuration or the instructions received from the core network. The VLAN tag can serve as an identifier for routing the packet within the LAN and for potentially determining any subsequent network slice requirements should the data transfer process continue or evolve until the packet arrives at destined subscriber).
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Padebettu, Zhang and Schmidt because these teachings are from the same field of endeavor with respect to disclosing techniques for providing broadband access to residential gateways.
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the strategies by Schmidt into the invention of Padebettu and Zhang. The motivation would have been to enable determining a fairness criteria of a Radio Access Network (RAN) scheduler by adjusting based on a normalized data rate. This methodology ensures a balanced and efficient allocation of resources within the network, Schmidt, [Abstract].
Padebettu, Zhang and Schmidt did not explicitly disclose wherein the access gateway function operates in: an adaptive mode when the one or more routing gateways are fixed network residential gateways, and a direct mode when the one or more routing gateways are fifth generation residential gateways.
Sanchez discloses wherein the access gateway function (fig. 1, Access Gateway Function (AGF-U) (35/65)) operates in:
an adaptive mode (fig. 1, AGF-U adaptive mode -65) when the one or more routing gateways are fixed network residential gateways (fig. 1, 5G Fixed Network Residential Gateway -FN-RG -55), and
a direct mode (fig. 1, AGF-U direct mode -35) when the one or more routing gateways are fifth generation residential gateways (fig. 1, 5G-RG – 30) (Sanchez, fig. 1, [0041], discloses an Access Gateway Function that operates in two modes (adaptive and direct mode). The Access Gateway Function (AGF-U 65) operates in an adaptive mode when it is connected to a Fixed Network Residential Gateway (FN-RG 55) and the Access Gateway Function (AGF-U- 35) operate in direct mode when it is connected to a 5G – residential gateway 30).
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Padebettu, Zhang, Schmidt and Sanchez because these teachings are from the same field of endeavor with respect to disclosing techniques for providing broadband access to residential gateways.
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the strategies by Sanchez into the invention of Padebettu, Zhang and Schmidt. The motivation would have been to provide a mechanism for handling routing rules for a 5G RG by modifying, upon having obtained the PFD from an NEF node, the routing rule by replacing the application identifier with the PFD only as a 3-tuple and providing the routing rule as modified towards the 5G RG, Sanchez [Abstract].
Regarding claim 2, Padebettu, Zhang, Schmidt and Sanchez disclose the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving encapsulated downstream packets from the access gateway function; decapsulating the encapsulated downstream packets to generate downstream packets; and providing the downstream packets to the one or more routing gateways (terminal 40/residential gateway (Zhang [0263;0380] when a downlink data packet is obtained by the interworking function network element-user plane from the user plane network element which may usually carry a packet header (for example, a GTP-u tunnel identifier, an IP address, and a media access control (MAC) address). To send the downlink data packet to the access network gateway, the interworking function network element-user plane needs to decapsulate the downlink data packet to remove the packet header (for example. the GTP-u tunnel identifier, the IP address, and the MAC address), and then re-encapsulates, by using the data encapsulation information, the IP address, and the device address of the access network gateway, a downlink data packet obtained after the packet header is removed. When sending the downlink data packet to the terminal, the access network gateway further needs to remove the data encapsulation information and the device address of the access network gateway. The terminal 40 is a fixed network residential gateway (FN-RG), the access network gateway 10 is a broadband network gateway (BNG), and the interworking function network element 20 is a fixed mobile interworking function (FMIF).
The motivation to combine is similar to that of claim 1.
Regarding claim 3, Padebettu, Zhang, Schmidt and Sanchez disclose the method of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more routing gateways is one of a fixed network routing gateway or a fifth-generation routing gateway (5G residential gateway ) (Padebettu, figs. 1A-1L, [0016] disclose a client device may be associated with a wireline access network (AN) and a core network. The client device may include a network device (e.g., a residential gateway, such as a 5G residential gateway), a mobile device (e.g., a user equipment), and/or the like that utilizes a transport protocol to carry messages via wireline access to the core network).
The motivation to combine is similar to that of claim 1.
Regarding claim 5, Padebettu, Zhang, Schmidt and Sanchez disclose the method of claim 1, wherein the encapsulated upstream packets are destined for a core network (Zhang, fig. 1 [0259] a terminal 40 accesses an access network gateway 10 by using a wireline access network (AN), and accesses a core network (CN) by using the interworking function network element 20. The core network is used to provide a service for the terminal 40. The core network includes a network element that provides a service for the terminal 40. [0324] Some of the services provided by the core network to the terminal 40 are realized after the user plane connection between the interworking function network element-user plane and the access network gateway is established, the interworking function network element-user plane may send a downlink data packet to the access network gateway or the terminal through the user plane connection, or may receive an uplink data packet from the access network gateway or the terminal through the user plane connection).
The motivation to combine is similar to that of claim 1.
Regarding claim 6, Padebettu, Zhang, Schmidt and Sanchez disclose the method of claim 1, wherein the layer 2 tunnel is one of a virtual extensible local area network tunnel, a network virtualization using generic routing encapsulation tunnel, or a layer 2 virtual private network tunnel (Zhang [0417-0420; 0544] discloses a virtual local area network (VLAN) which includes a VLAN tag. In step 527, an access network gateway in the VLAN may encapsulate a device address of the access network gateway in an outer layer of a data packet encapsulated by using the GRE protocol header. The device address of the access network gateway is carried to help the interworking function network element-user plane determine which access network gateway sends the data packet encapsulated by using the GRE protocol header).
The motivation to combine is similar to that of claim 1.
Regarding claim 15, Padebettu discloses a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions, the set of instructions comprising: one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a device, cause the device to (Padebettu, [0063] in response to executing software instructions stored by a non-transitory computer-readable medium, a controller 440 may perform one or more processes:
The rest of the limitations of claim 15, are rejected with rational similar to that of claim 1.
Regarding claim 16, the claim is rejected with rational similar to that of claim 2.
Regarding claim 17, Padebettu, Zhang, Schmidt and Sanchez disclose the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first network device is an access gateway function and the second network device is a broadband network gateway (Zhang, fig. 2, [0263] discloses a terminal 40 which accesses a core network by using the wireline network, the terminal 40 is a fixed network residential gateway (FN-RG), the access network gateway 10 is a broadband network gateway (BNG), and the interworking function network element 20 is a fixed mobile interworking function (FMIF)).
The motivation to combine is similar to that of claim 15.
Regarding claim 18, Padebettu, Zhang, Schmidt and Sanchez disclose the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the device is a user plane function (Padebettu, fig. 2 [0021] As shown in FIG. 1C and by reference number 112, the AGF may identify a tunnel, of one or more tunnels (shown in FIG. 1C as tunnels 1 through N, where N is greater than 1) between the AGF and another network device of the core network, such as a user plane function (UPF).
The motivation to combine is similar to that of claim 15.
Regarding claim 20, the claim is rejected with rational similar to that of claim 3.
Regarding claim 22, Padebettu, Zhang, Schmidt and Sanchez disclose the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the multiple dwelling unit is treated as the subscriber based on a line identifier (subscriber account (e.g., price plan)) inserted by a data processing unit (Schmidt [0006;0010] discloses a Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) gateway in a Multiple Dwelling Unit (MDU) that is capable of managing data traffic for various users and devices. A cellular base station detects the attachment of the FWA gateway. Based on the attachment of the FWA gateway, the cellular base station determines a traffic cap to apply. This traffic cap can be determined based on a subscriber account (e.g., price plan) associated with the MDU. The subscriber account also identifies the device operated by the subscriber. A specialized traffic cap can be designed to accommodate potentially higher traffic demands typical of a multi-dwelling environment compared to a single-subscriber scenario).
The motivation to combine is similar to that of claim 15.
Regarding claim 23, Padebettu, Zhang, Schmidt and Sanchez disclose the method of claim 1, wherein the device acts as a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP)- relay agent or a point-to-point protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE) intermediatory agent (Zhang [0546] discloses a BNG and the FMIF-CP each obtain the IP address of the other party by using a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) procedure or a PPPoE procedure. For example, the BNG obtains the IP address of the FMIF-CP by using the DHCP procedure or the PPPoE procedure. The FMIF-CP obtains the IP address of the BNG by using the DHCP procedure or the PPPoE procedure).
The motivation to combine is similar to that of claim 1.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Padebettu (US 2021/0321469 A1), in view of Zhang et al. (US 2022/0086236 A1), in view of Schmidt et al. (US 2025/0133446 A1), in view of Sanchez et al. (WO 2022008103 A1), further in view of Lee et al. (US 2022/0400525 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Padebettu, Zhang, Schmidt and Sanchez disclose the method of claim 1, but did not explicitly disclose wherein the identifier of the layer 2 tunnel includes one of a virtual extensible local area network identifier.
Lee discloses wherein the identifier of the layer 2 tunnel includes one of a virtual extensible local area network identifier (Lee, fig. 7, [0073;0085] discloses a method for establishing a communication between a first and second terminal. The first terminal may participate in a virtual overlay network in which the second terminal participates by using a network identification information. In this case, a relay node may connect a L2TPv3 tunnel formed between the relay node and the first terminal to a VXLAN tunnel corresponding to the virtual overlay network identification information (e.g., the VXLAN ID), thus enabling the first terminal to participate in the virtual overlay network).
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Padebettu, Zhang, Schmidt, Sanchez and Lee because these teachings are from the same field of endeavor with respect to disclosing techniques for providing broadband access channels to different clients.
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the strategies by Lee into the invention of Padebettu, Zhang, Schmidt and Sanchez, the motivation would have been to establish a communication channel between a first and second terminal so enable the first terminal to participate in a virtual overlay network in which the second terminal participates by using a network identification information, Lee, [Abstract].
Claim(s) 8-12 and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Padebettu (US 2021/0321469 A1), in view of Zhang et al. (US 2022/0086236 A1), in view of Schmidt et al. (US 2025/0133446 A1),
Regarding claim 8, Padebettu discloses a device (Client device 300), (Padebettu, fig. 3, [0055] discloses a client device 300) comprising:
one or more memories (Padebettu, fig. 3, [0055] the client device 300 may include a bus 310, a processor 320, a memory 330, a storage component 340, an input component 350, an output component 360, and a communication interface 370); and
one or more processors to (Padebettu, fig. 3, [0055] the client device 300 may include a bus 310, a processor 320, a memory 330, a storage component 340, an input component 350, an output component 360, and a communication interface 370):
configure, in the device (Fig. 1B – AGF), a network address (IP address of AGF) of a broadband network (5G network) gateway (Padebettu [0014 -0015], a 5G core network 100 includes a device that is configured with an IP address of an access gateway function (AGF) to receive encapsulated packets from 5G client devices);
receive upstream packets (uplink messages) from one or more routing gateways (Residential gateway) associated with a multiple dwelling unit (multiple clients served by Residential gateways) (Padebettu, fig. 1B – 1D, [0014;0016], client devices such as residential gateways (RGs) send encapsulated packets to the device configured with an access gateway function (AGF), the encapsulated packet includes a session identifier and/or a tunnel identifier. Residential gateways frequently serve multiple dwelling units by providing access points to different networks);
encapsulate the upstream packets (encapsulated uplink messages) with an identifier of a layer 2 tunnel (fig. 1C-1D, Tunnel 1 – Tunnel N) per subscriber (per client), based on the network address, and to generate encapsulated upstream packets (Padebettu, figs. 1B;1H [0014;0016;0019], residential gateways (RGs) include identifiers in a packet for each client that is the destination of the packet to generate encapsulated packets and send the packets uplink to each client device based on the identifier of the client device as configured in each packet by an access gateway function (AGF). The client device encapsulates each packet with a session identifier, a layer 2 tunneling protocol (L2TP) packet/tunnel identifier, a source/destination MAC address and a source/destination IP addresses. The encapsulated packets are sent upstream to the AGF);
provide the encapsulated upstream packets (encapsulated uplink messages) to the broadband network gateway (AGF in a 5G network) via the layer 2 tunnel (L2TP) and based on the network address (source/destination IP address) and the identifier (fig. 1C-1D, Tunnel 1 – Tunnel N) (Padebettu, figs. 1B;1H [0014;0016;0019], in a 5G core network 100, a client device may provide encapsulated packets via the AGF, where the encapsulated packets include a session identifier, a layer 2 tunneling protocol (L2TP) packet/tunnel identifier, a source/destination MAC address and a source/destination IP addresses. The encapsulated packets are sent upstream to the AGF. The AGF may process (e.g., parse) the L2TP packet to determine a tunnel identifier such as tunnel 1 – tunnel N, and a session identifier included in the L2TP packet (e.g., in a “Tunnel ID” field and a “Session ID” field of the L2TP packet as shown in FIG. 1L). The AGF may determine, based on the tunnel identifier and the session identifier, the identification information associated with the client device).
Padebettu discloses the concepts of the use of an Access Gateway Function in a broadband network (5G network) (Padebettu [0014 -0015; 0023]) and providing the encapsulated upstream packets (encapsulated uplink messages) to the broadband network gateway (AGF in a 5G network) via the layer 2 tunnel (L2TP) and based on the network address (source/destination IP address) and the identifier (fig. 1C-1D, Tunnel 1 – Tunnel N), Zhang more explicitly discloses providing, by the device, the encapsulated upstream packets to the access gateway function via the layer 2 tunnel and based on network address and identifier.
Zhang discloses wherein the device (Fig. 1 – Access network gateway 10) is configured with an internet protocol address (IP address of AGF) of the broadband network (fig. 2 W-5GAN network) gateway (AGF in a 5G network) (Zhang, figs. 1 & 2, [0069-0070] discloses an interworking function network element-control plane sending a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session address to an access network gateway and the interworking function network element-user plane, where the address information of the access network gateway side in the address information of the user plane connection is associated with a local address of the terminal/configured on the terminal, and the address information of the interworking function network element-user plane side is associated with the PDU session address. In [0082] when the access network gateway receives a data packet from the terminal, where the data packet includes the local address of the terminal. The access network gateway decapsulates the data packet to obtain the local address, where local address of the terminal is the temporary, internal IP address (e.g., IPv4 or IPv6) assigned to the user's device by the radio access network and replaces the local address in the decapsulated data packet with a second address, to obtain a processed data packet, where the second address is a device address of the access network gateway. That is, configuring the terminal device with the IP address of the access gateway. The access network gateway sends the processed data packet to the interworking function network element-user plane. The device address of the access network gateway is an address of the access network gateway used for communication between the access network gateway and the interworking function network element-user plane);
providing the encapsulated upstream packets (encapsulated upstream packet) to the broadband network gateway (Access gateway 10/broadband network gateway (BNG))) via the layer 2 tunnel (GRE tunnel) and based on the network address (source/destination IP address) and the identifier (a GTP-u tunnel identifier) (Zhang, figs. 5A-5D, [0350-0355] after step 510 and step 511, the interworking function network element-user plane and the access network gateway can determine that the data packet to be transmitted through the user plane connection is processed by using the data encapsulation information. For an uplink data packet, the access network gateway may encapsulate the uplink data packet by using the GRE protocol header, and send an uplink data packet encapsulated by using the GRE protocol header to the interworking function network element-user plane through the GRE tunnel. [0378-380] using the GRE tunnel, the terminal device provides an uplink encapsulated packet, the packet includes session information, terminal identifier information, a GTP-u tunnel identifier and an IP address).
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Padebettu and Zhang because these teachings are from the same field of endeavor with respect to disclosing techniques for providing broadband access to residential gateways.
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the strategies by Zhang into the invention of Padebettu. The motivation would have been to enable determining, by an interworking function network element-control plane, granularity information of a user plane connection between an interworking function network element-user plane and an access network gateway, Zhang, [Abstract].
Padebettu, figs. 1B;1H [0014;0016;0019] discloses encapsulating, by the device, the upstream packets with an identifier of a layer 2 tunnel.
Padebettu and Zhang did not explicitly disclose “subscriber”; wherein each multiple dwelling unit is treated as a unique subscriber based on the identifier inserted by the device, and wherein the identifier of the layer 2 tunnel includes a service provider network virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier or a customer network VLAN identifier.
Schmidt discloses wherein each multiple dwelling unit is treated as a unique subscriber (subscriber account) based on the identifier inserted (subscriber account) by the device (Schmidt [0006;0010] a Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) gateway in a Multiple Dwelling Unit (MDU) that is capable of managing data traffic for various users and devices. A cellular base station detects the attachment of the FWA gateway. Based on the attachment of the FWA gateway, the cellular base station determines a traffic cap to apply. This traffic cap can be determined based on a subscriber account (e.g., price plan) associated with the MDU. A specialized traffic cap can be designed to accommodate potentially higher traffic demands typical of a multi-dwelling environment compared to a single-subscriber scenario), and
wherein the identifier of the layer 2 tunnel includes a service provider network virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier (VLAN tag), or a customer network VLAN identifier (Schmidt, fig.2, [0046-0048] at step 208, a host device encapsulates a packet with a VLAN tag to generate an upstream request packet. At step 226, the FWA gateway transmits the VLAN-tagged packet back to the receiver/subscriber that includes the responsive data. The FWA gateway can encapsulate the responsive data within a VLAN-tagged packet, utilizing the same VLAN tag as the initial packet received in step 208, or a different VLAN tag based on the network configuration or the instructions received from the core network. The VLAN tag can serve as an identifier for routing the packet within the LAN and for potentially determining any subsequent network slice requirements should the data transfer process continue or evolve until the packet arrives at destined subscriber).
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Padebettu, Zhang and Schmidt because these teachings are from the same field of endeavor with respect to disclosing techniques for providing broadband access to residential gateways.
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the strategies by Schmidt into the invention of Padebettu and Zhang. The motivation would have been to enable determining a fairness criteria of a Radio Access Network (RAN) scheduler by adjusting based on a normalized data rate. This methodology ensures a balanced and efficient allocation of resources within the network, Schmidt, [Abstract].
Regarding claim 9, Padebettu, Zhang and Schmidt disclose the device of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors are further to: receive encapsulated downstream packets from the broadband network gateway; decapsulate the encapsulated downstream packets to generate downstream packets; and provide the downstream packets to the one or more routing gateways (Zhang [0263;0380] when a downlink data packet is obtained by the interworking function network element-user plane from the user plane network element which may usually carry a packet header (for example, a GTP-u tunnel identifier, an IP address, and a media access control (MAC) address). To send the downlink data packet to the access network gateway, the interworking function network element-user plane needs to decapsulate the downlink data packet to remove the packet header (for example. the GTP-u tunnel identifier, the IP address, and the MAC address), and then re-encapsulates, by using the data encapsulation information, the IP address, and the device address of the access network gateway, a downlink data packet obtained after the packet header is removed. When sending the downlink data packet to the terminal, the access network gateway further needs to remove the data encapsulation information and the device address of the access network gateway. The terminal 40 is a fixed network residential gateway (FN-RG), the access network gateway 10 is a broadband network gateway (BNG), and the interworking function network element 20 is a fixed mobile interworking function (FMIF).
The motivation to combine is similar to that of claim 8.
Regarding claim 10, Padebettu, Zhang and Schmidt disclose the device of claim 8, wherein each of the one or more routing gateways is a fixed network routing gateway (5G residential gateway ) (Padebettu, figs. 1A-1L, [0016] disclose a client device may be associated with a wireline access network (AN) and a core network. The client device may include a network device (e.g., a residential gateway, such as a 5G residential gateway), a mobile device (e.g., a user equipment), and/or the like that utilizes a transport protocol to carry messages via wireline access to the core network).
The motivation to combine is similar to that of claim 8.
Regarding claim 11, Padebettu, Zhang and Schmidt disclose the device of claim 8, wherein the encapsulated upstream packets are destined for a core network (Zhang, fig. 1 [0259] a terminal 40 accesses an access network gateway 10 by using a wireline access network (AN), and accesses a core network (CN) by using the interworking function network element 20. The core network is used to provide a service for the terminal 40. The core network includes a network element that provides a service for the terminal 40. [0324] Some of the services provided by the core network to the terminal 40 are realized after the user plane connection between the interworking function network element-user plane and the access network gateway is established, the interworking function network element-user plane may send a downlink data packet to the access network gateway or the terminal through the user plane connection, or may receive an uplink data packet from the access network gateway or the terminal through the user plane connection).
The motivation to combine is similar to that of claim 8.
Regarding claim 12, Padebettu, Zhang and Schmidt disclose the device of claim 8, wherein the layer 2 tunnel is a layer 2 virtual private network tunnel (Zhang [0417-0420; 0544] discloses a virtual local area network (VLAN) which includes a VLAN tag. In step 527, an access network gateway in the VLAN may encapsulate a device address of the access network gateway in an outer layer of a data packet encapsulated by using the GRE protocol header. The device address of the access network gateway is carried to help the interworking function network element-user plane determine which access network gateway sends the data packet encapsulated by using the GRE protocol header).
The motivation to combine is similar to that of claim 8.
Regarding claim 21, Padebettu, Zhang and Schmidt disclose the device of claim 8, wherein the device is configured with an IP address of the broadband network gateway (IP address of access gateway function (AGF)/broadband network gateway) (Padebettu [0014], a core network 100 includes a device that is configured with an IP address of an access gateway function (AGF)/broadband network gateway to receive encapsulated packets from client devices).
The motivation to combine is similar to that of claim 8.
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Padebettu (US 2021/0321469 A1), in view of Zhang et al. (US 2022/0086236 A1), in view of Schmidt et al. (US 2025/0133446 A1), further in view of Lee et al. (US 2022/0400525 A1).
Regarding claim 13, Padebettu, Zhang and Schmidt disclose the device of claim 8, but did not explicitly disclose wherein the identifier of the layer 2 tunnel includes one virtual extensible local area network identifier Lee discloses wherein the identifier of the layer 2 tunnel includes one of a virtual extensible local area network identifier (Lee, fig. 7, [0073;0085] discloses a method for establishing a communication between a first and second terminal. The first terminal may participate in a virtual overlay network in which the second terminal participates by using a network identification information. In this case, a relay node may connect a L2TPv3 tunnel formed between the relay node and the first terminal to a VXLAN tunnel corresponding to the virtual overlay network identification information (e.g., the VXLAN ID), thus enabling the first terminal to participate in the virtual overlay network).
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Padebettu, Zhang, Schmidt and Lee because these teachings are from the same field of endeavor with respect to disclosing techniques for providing broadband access channels to different clients.
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the strategies by Lee into the invention of Padebettu, Zhang and Schmidt, the motivation would have been to establish a communication channel between a first and second terminal so enable the first terminal to participate in a virtual overlay network in which the second terminal participates by using a network identification information, Lee, [Abstract].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure. The following publications show the state of the art related to providing a multiplex dwelling unit fixed wireless access.
Fujiware et al. (US 2010/0220593 A1)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DIXON F DABIPI whose telephone number is (571)270-3673. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christopher L Parry, can be reached at telephone number 571-272-8328. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information for published applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Patent Center to authorized users only. Should you have questions about access to the USPTO patent electronic filing system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
Examiner interviews are available via a variety of formats. See MPEP § 713.01. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) Form at https://www.uspto.gov/InterviewPractice.
/D.F.D/ Examiner, Art Unit 2451
/Chris Parry/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2451
Prosecution Insights