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 .
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.
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to Application No. 18/920,374 filed on 18 October 2024. This application claims CON to PCT/CN2022/091155 filed on 6 May 2022. Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
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.
Claims 1-4, 7-12, and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US PGPUB 2019/0037518 A1 to Russell et al and in view of US PGPUB 2022/0131908 A1 to Oyman et al.
Regarding Claim 1, Russell discloses a method for wireless communication, applicable to a first core network (CN) element in a network (FIG. 9, S-CSCF 914), the method comprising: receiving a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) registration request message from a remote terminal device (FIG. 10 and 0254-0257 provides for arrow 1030 where S-CSCF 1016 receives second registration from remote UE 1010), wherein the remote terminal device accesses the network via a relay terminal device (FIG. 10 shows remote UE 1010 accesses the network via Relay UE 1012), the SIP registration request message is sent by the remote terminal device to the first CN element via the relay terminal device (FIG. 10 and 0252 provides for the SIP URI is sent by remote UE 1010 to the S-CSCF 1016 via Relay UE 1012), and the SIP registration request message comprises first information indicating that the remote terminal device accesses the network in a relay mode (FIG. 10 and 0252-0254 provides for SIP message comprises c-the remote UE 1010 user identifier). Russell doesn’t explicitly disclose sending a SIP registration response message corresponding to the SIP registration request message to the remote terminal device. Oyman, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses sending a SIP registration response message corresponding to the SIP registration request message to the remote terminal device (FIG. 2, 0056, and claim 1 provides for P-CSCF 204 sending a SIP response message to UE 202 and ProSe UE 301). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filed date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Oyman for SIP response messages. The SIP response message of Oyman, when implemented with the relay UE network of the Russel system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to explicitly send SIP response messages in order to communicate reception of the relay information. Therefore, the examiner concludes it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to utilize the SIP response message of Oyman with the relay UE network of the Russel system for the desirable purpose of communicating the architecture of the relay UE network.
Regarding Claim 2, the Russell/Oyman system discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the relay mode is a Layer-3 (L3) relay mode (Russell, 0254 and Table 8 provides for layer 3 relay).
Regarding Claim 3, the Russell/Oyman system discloses he method according to claim 1, wherein in a case that the first CN element determines, based on the first information, that the remote terminal device accesses the network in the relay mode, the first CN element skips an authentication process for the remote terminal device and directly sends the SIP registration response message to the remote terminal device (Russell, 0154 provides for in the case that the remote UE is unauthorized, sending a sip 401 unauthorized response back to the remote UE’s 716).
Regarding Claim 4, the Russell/Oyman system discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the SIP registration request message further comprises second information indicating identity information of the remote terminal device (Russell, FIG. 10 and 0252-0254 provides for SIP message comprises c-the remote UE 1010 user identifier), and the identity information comprises an IP multimedia private identity (IMPI) (Russell, 0171 provides for IMS Private User Identity (IMPI)).
Regarding Claim 7, the Russell/Oyman system discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the first CN element is acquired by the remote terminal device over a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) request (Oyman, 0052 and Table 00001 provides for DHCPv4). Same motivation as claim 1.
Regarding Claim 8, the Russell/Oyman system discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the first CN element is a proxy call session control function (P-CSCF) network element (Russell, 0055 provides for SIP UEs between UE 210 and P-CSCF 220 is done utilizing a Gm interface).
Regarding Claim 9, similar rejection where the method of claim 1 teaches the communication device of claim 9.
Regarding Claim 10, similar rejection where the method of claim 2 teaches the communication device of claim 10.
Regarding Claim 11, similar rejection where the method of claim 3 teaches the communication device of claim 11.
Regarding Claim 12, similar rejection where the method of claim 4 teaches the communication device of claim 12.
Regarding Claim 15, similar rejection where the method of claim 7 teaches the communication device of claim 15.
Regarding Claim 16, similar rejection where the method of claim 8 teaches the communication device of claim 16.
Regarding Claim 17, Russell discloses a communication device (FIG. 9, remote UE 910), comprising: a processor and a memory storing one or more computer programs, which when executed by the processor, causes the communication device to: send a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) registration request message to a relay terminal device (FIG. 10 and 0247-0248 provides for arrow 1020 where remote UE 1010 sends a relay register to S-CSCF 1016), wherein the SIP registration request message is sent by a remote terminal device via the relay terminal device to a first core network (CN) element in the network (FIG. 10 and 0252 provides for the SIP URI is sent by remote UE 1010 via Relay UE 1012 to the S-CSCF 1016), and the SIP registration request message comprises first information indicating that the remote terminal device accesses the network in a relay mode (FIG. 10 and 0252-0254 provides for SIP message comprises c-the remote UE 1010 user identifier). Russell doesn’t explicitly disclose receive a SIP registration response message corresponding to the SIP registration request message from the first CN element. Oyman, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses receive a SIP registration response message corresponding to the SIP registration request message from the first CN element (FIG. 2, 0056, and claim 1 provides for remote UE 202 receives a SIP response message from P-CSCF 204 and ProSe UE 301). Same motivation as claim 1.
Regarding Claim 18, similar rejection where the method of claim 2 teaches the communication device of claim 18.
Regarding Claim 19, similar rejection where the method of claim 3 teaches the communication device of claim 19.
Regarding Claim 20, similar rejection where the method of claim 4 teaches the communication device of claim 20.
Claims 5, 6, 13, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the Russell/Oyman system as applied to claims 4 and 12 above, and further in view of US PGPUB 2023/0023571 A1 to Xing et al.
Regarding Claim 5, the Russell/Oyman system discloses the method according to claim 4. The Russell/Oyman system doesn’t explicitly disclose wherein the first CN element sends a first request message to a policy control function (PCF) network element, and the first request message instructs to acquire the identity information of the remote terminal device. Xing, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses wherein the first CN element sends a first request message to a policy control function (PCF) network element (0094 and 0149 provides for PCF is a core network device), and the first request message instructs to acquire the identity information of the remote terminal device (0036, 0142-0144, and 0154 provides for information about the service that a remote UE). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filed date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Xing for communication through a relay UE to a core network element. The PCF network element of Xing, when implemented with the relay UE network of the Russell/Oyman system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to supervise transmissions in order to monitor traffic from a remote UE through a relay device. Therefore, the examiner concludes it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to utilize the PCF network element of Xing with the relay UE network of the Russell/Oyman system for the desirable purpose of monitoring forwarded data from a remote UE through a relay UE to a PCF core network element.
Regarding Claim 6, the Russell/Oyman/Xing system discloses the method according to claim 5, wherein the first CN element receives the identity information of the remote terminal device from the PCF network element (Xing, 0036 and 0149 provides for remote UE), and the identity information comprises one of a subscription permanent identifier (SUPI) (Xing, 0201, 0204, and 0228 provides for subscription permanent identifier, or SUPI), a permanent equipment identifier (PEI), or a generic public subscription identifier (GPSI). Same motivation as claim 5.
Regarding Claim 13, similar rejection where the method of claim 5 teaches the communication device of claim 13.
Regarding Claim 14, similar rejection where the method of claim 6 teaches the communication device of claim 14.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US PGPUB 2023/0070882 A1 to Youn et al discloses a P-CSCF receives a SIP message.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SCHQUITA GOODWIN whose telephone number is (571)272-5477. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am - 5pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tonia Dollinger can be reached on (571) 272-4170. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SCHQUITA D GOODWIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2459
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