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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 37-46, 48-52, and 54 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by [TP for 38.413 and 36.413] On Remote Criticality ‘TP’.
Regarding claims 37, 41, 48, TP teaches method performed by a first Radio Access Network, RAN node in a handover procedure with a second RAN node via a core network (CN) in a wireless communications system (see Introduction: source RAN, target RAN, handover via CN), the method comprising:
sending (301) to the CN node over an Application Protocol (AP) used between the first RAN node and the CN node, a message comprising a first container information element (IE) to be forwarded to the second RAN node, the container IE comprising a first list of information element (IE) identifiers of the Application Protocol to retrieve information on a level of support for certain feature at the second RAN node, and,
receiving (302) from the CN node a response comprising a second container IE obtained from the second RAN node, the second container IE comprising a second list of information element (IE) identifiers of the Application Protocol (AP), and for each IE identifier in the second list, a support indication if the second RAN node has information that functionality associated with the indicated information element is supported or a not supported indication if the second RAN node has information that functionality associated with the indicated information element is not supported (See Discussion: Criticality Diagnostics and the related framework introduced already in 3G provides a means to inform the sending side about protocol elements (IEs, procedures) not supported by the receiving node, Proposal 4: Agree a criticality-diagnostics-based mechanism which foresees providing criticality
diagnostics information concerning the target side NG-C/S1-MME interface within a transparent container from the target RAN node to the source RAN node, While the handover failure case may not be the only situation. where criticality diagnostics would be advantageous to pass to the source RAN node, it is also proposed to allow such information exchange in successful handover scenarios. Such information may contain information collected e.g. during HO attempts from other source RAN nodes. In order to allow the source RAN node to keep track of the peer nodes' protocol support the source RAN node should be able to
request latest protocol support information from the target RAN node and also include it own information, see Discussion last paragraph page 1, relevant IEs set to ‘reject’). Examiner corresponds applicant’s list of information element (IE) identifiers of the Application Protocol (AP), and for each IE identifier in the list, a support indication with the reference’s protocol support information.
Regarding claim 38, the message is HANDOVER Required
Message (fig. 8.4.1.2-1).
Regarding claims 39, 45, 51, the CN node is an Access and Mobility management function (AMF) (fig. 8.4.1.2-1).
Regarding claims 40, 46, 52, the support indication or the not supported indication is comprised in an AP Protocol IE Support Information IE (see Discussion last paragraph page 1, relevant IEs set to ‘reject’).
Regarding claim 42, the information element identifiers of the Application Protocol (AP) correspond to Next Generation Application Protocol (NGAP) Protocol IE Identifiers (see Discussion: NG-C/S1-MME protocol).
Regarding claims 43, 49, the request message is HANDOVER Request message and the response message is a HANDOVER Request acknowledge or a HANDOVER Failure message (see fig. 8.4.2.3-1).
Regarding claims 44, 50, the second container IE is a Target NG-RAN Node to Source NG-RAN Node Transparent Container IE included in the HANDOVER Request acknowledge (see fig. 8.4.2.2-1), or the second container IE is Target NG-RAN Node to Source NG-RAN Node Transparent Failure Transparent Container IE included in the HANDOVER Failure message.
Regarding claim 54, the Application Protocol (AP) is a 3GPP
Next Generation Application Protocol (NGAP) (See Discussion: Criticality Diagnostics and the related framework introduced already in 3G provides a means to inform the sending side about protocol elements (IEs, procedures) not supported by the receiving node).
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.
Claim(s) 47, 53 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TP.
Although not explicitly stated in TP, including all the information element identifiers of the first list is an obvious implementation.
Prior Art of Record
US 20180255496 teaches a source BS sending a handoff required message to CN which forwards the message to a target BS, which in turn returns the handover decision to the source BS via the CN (fig. 2, [0071]) wherein the handover required message and handover command both contain a QoS flow identifier and QoS flow parameter (claim 13)
RU 2771923 teaches a transmitting a handover
request wherein the request includes an application protocol identifier of the terminal device
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RONALD B ABELSON whose telephone number is (571)272-3165. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:30.
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/RONALD B ABELSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
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