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 .
Detailed Action
This office action is response to the application 18/759,815 filed on 06/29/2024. Claims 1-20 are pending in this communication.
Allowable subject matter
Claims 1-20 are allowable if the applicant overcomes the double patenting rejection.
Double Patenting
The non-statutory obviousness type double patenting (ODP) rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper time wise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A non-statutory obviousness-type double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a non-statutory double patenting ground provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
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The following table shows anticipated respective claims of the instant application against the claims of US Patent No. US 12,047,781.
Table 1
Instant Application
Patent US 12,047,781
1. A method performed by a user equipment (UE) or a UE chipset system, comprising:
transmitting a tracking area update (TAU) request message to a mobility management
entity (MME) during a TAU procedure, wherein the TAU request message comprises UE security capabilities that include first UE security capabilities and UE new radio (NR) security capabilities, and the first UE security capabilities include UE long term evolution (LTE) security capabilities;
receiving a non-access stratum (NAS) security mode command (SMC) message from the
MME during the TAU procedure, wherein the
NAS SMC message includes replayed UE security capabilities;
determining that the replayed UE security capabilities in the NAS SMC message do not
include the UE NR security capabilities and include the first UE security capabilities; and
continuing the TAU procedure when determining that the replayed UE security
capabilities in the NAS SMC message do not include the UE NR security capabilities and
include the first UE security capabilities.
1. A method for attaching performed by a user equipment (UE) or a UE chipset system, comprising:
transmitting an attach request message to a mobility management entity (MME) during an attach procedure, wherein the attach request message includes UE security capabilities comprising UE new radio (NR) security
capabilities and second UE security capabilities, wherein the second UE security capabilities comprise UE long term evolution (LTE) security capabilities;
receiving a non-access stratum (NAS) security mode command (SMC) message from the MME; and
continuing the attach procedure when
determining that the NAS SMC message does not include the UE NR security capabilities and the second UE security capabilities in the attach request message have been correctly
replayed in the NAS SMC message.
Claims 1, 8 and 16 merely broaden the scope of claims 1, 8 and 15, respectively of Patent US 12,047,781.
Claims 1, 8 & 16 are rejected in view of US 12,047,781 and further in view of PALANIGOUNDER; Anand (US 2017/0006469 A1).
PALANIGOUNDER discloses “NAS SMC message includes replayed UE security capabilities” {[0043], “The MME 206 sends a NAS Security Mode Command (SMC) message 420 containing confidentiality and integrity algorithms. For example, the NAS SMC message 420 may contain replayed UE security capabilities, selected NAS algorithms, the KSIASME value for identifying KASME, and both NONCEUE and NONCEMME values in the case of creating a mapped context in idle mobility”}.
It is well settled that broadening the scope of claims would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the narrower issued claims. In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982) and In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993). Therefore claim 1 of US Patent US 12,047,781 anticipate claims 1, 8 & 16 of the instant application.
Claims 1-20 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 8 & 15 of the Patent US 12,047,781 in view of prior art PALANIGOUNDER. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other over Patent US 12,047,781 in view of PALANIGOUNDER.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention of claims 1, 8 & 15 of the US 12,047,781 to include PALANIGOUNDER inventions to obtain predictable results. The motivation is - The main advantage of 5G New Radio (NR) compatibility with LTE is the ability to leverage existing 4G infrastructure for a smoother transition, providing backward compatibility and faster deployment. This integration, often achieved through Non-Standalone (NSA) 5G and Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), allows 5G to start offering higher speeds and improved performance while 5G-only (Standalone or SA) networks are being built out.
Conclusion
Following prior-art has been considered but is not applied:
YOUN; Myungjune et al. (US 2018/0376384 A1) – Method for interworking between networks in wireless communication system and apparatus: “A 5G system is a technology advanced from the 4th generation LTE mobile communication technology and a new radio access technology (RAT) through the evolution of the existing mobile communication network structure or a clean-state structure and an extended technology of long term evolution (LTE), and it supports extended LTE (eLTE), non-3GPP (e.g., WLAN) access and so on”.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUAZI FAROOQUI whose telephone number is (571) 270-1034 or quazi.farooqui@USPTO.GOV. If the examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9:00 am to 5:30 pm, EST. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amir Mehrmanesh can be reached on (571) 270-3351 or amir.mehrmanesh@USPTO.GOV. The fax phone number for Examiner Farooqui assigned is 571-270-2034.
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/QUAZI FAROOQUI/
Examiner, Art Unit 2491