Detailed Action
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
The Office Action is in response to claims filed on 11/14/2024 where claims 1-19 are pending and ready for examination.
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.
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, 3, 5-7 and 9-10 and 19 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Johnson (US 20220247869) in view of Luft (US 20140003605)
Regarding claim 1, Johnson discloses a vehicle terminal disposed at a vehicle, the vehicle terminal comprising:
a modem operably connected to a preset communication network (Johnson; Johnson teaches a telematics communication unit (TCU) that communicates over a cellular network which requires modulation and demodulation of signals in accordance with communication protocols. Accordingly, a modem is necessarily present within the TCU to enable such cellular communication functionality;
Johnson further teaches the TCU utilizes an embedded eUICC (eSIM) provisioned with a pre-allocated mobile network operation (MNO) profile which realizes a preset communication network;
see e.g. [0047] “ ... connectivity via a wireless or cellular network. In an embodiment, the multi-purpose ...”
see e.g. [0048] “... the multi-purpose embedded device may be a telematics control unit (TCU) in a vehicle that includes a data transmission unit capable of communicating over a cellular or other wireless network which includes the Embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card (eUICC or eSIM). For the purpose of this document, any reference to eSIMs is considered to be referring to eUICCs. The multi-purpose embedded device, e.g., the telematics control unit (TCU) in a vehicle may be manufactured with this embedded eUICC (eSIM). The eSIM includes a pre-allocated mobile network operator (MNO) as an initial profile or a “bootstrap” profile, which provides network connectivity by preconfigured MNO ...”) and a
processor configured to (Johnson; see e.g. [0197] “... processor ... “):
transmit, to a communication management server configured to perform activation of the communication network, a request for resetting a calling number which collectively manages connectivity and provisioning of the communication network to thereby enable the vehicle terminal to operably connect to the communication network (Johnson ([0155], Fig. 14b]) teaches a vehicle TCU communicating with an MNO server (i.e. communication management server. The TCU participates in a provisioning workflow in which subscription identifiers (MSI/MSISDN) are updated. Updating the MSIDSN (calling number) realizes the necessary request for resetting a calling number .
The Examiner has interpreted MSISDN as the claimed calling number and updating the MSISDN is updating the calling number
The Examiner has interpreted the claimed “communication management server” as a backend server that manages network provisioning, activation, or subscription parameters
[0155] “The rental car company API 1402 updates the IMSI/MSISDN and APN for each of the one or more vehicles on each vehicle TCU via step 1434 and confirms pairing success with the OEM API 1404 via step 1436. The pairing success may be displayed on each of the one or more vehicles' TCU and/or pairing dashboard (UI) at the rental car company via step 1442 and communicated to the PTP server 1406 via step 1438 and MNO API 1408 via step 1440” ) ,
receive a reset calling number from the communication management server (Johsnon; As the update is applied to the TCU, the TCU necessarily receives updated MSISDN data from the backend system which realizes a reset calling number from the communication management server; ([0155], Fig. 14b])), and
change a current calling number to the reset calling number (Johnson; Johnson teaches the MSISDN is updated; [0155] ).
Johnson does not expressly disclose:
in response to receiving, from a service server, a preset type of error code after requesting a service to the service server
Luft discloses:
in response to receiving, from a service server, a preset type of error code after requesting a service to the service server (Luft; Luft teaches a cause code representing a predefined coded indicator of network condition (e.g. error code) which upon receipt requires by the mobile station triggers corrective action including resetting parameters and performing re-attachment. The provision of such coded network condition information, along with coordination of attachment, authentication (e.g. AKS) and subscription procedures, requires a network entity (i.e. service server) that manages service level interaction interactions with the mobile device. Under the broadest reasonable interpretation the “re-attach required” signals a failure or invalid network state and thereby corresponds to the claimed preset error type of code.;
see e.g. [0072] In various aspects of this disclosure, the instruction for roaming (by means of messages 606 and 608)--which may include an instruction to establish connectivity between the visited network and the mobile station--may be a NAS (Non Access Stratum) Mobility Management Message. By way of example, a network initiated GPRS detach procedure or network initiated IMSI detach procedure could be performed. The detach type information element "re-attach required" with a new inventive cause code "switch to direct roaming" may cause the mobile station to derive K', reset the sequence number (namely, Seq#), and perform a re-attach with K' and Seq#. After a successful AKA-run with these new parameters all other subscription data like operator preferred network may be sent securely to the mobile station. Since K' may be known in the home network 104, the visited network 202 may consider generating a network specific new encryption key (namely, the aforementioned third encryption key) for this temporary subscription between the mobile station 102 and the visited network 202. These features of the instruction for roaming are equally applicable to all other aspects of this disclosure that will follow.)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Luft’s provisioning scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning of TCUs (i.e. reconfiguration or reattachment in order to restore connectivity and ensure reliable operation)
Regarding claim 3, Johsnon in view of Luft disclose the vehicle terminal of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to provide a vehicle identification number of the vehicle when the request for resetting the calling number is sent (Johnson; Johnson teaches that the MNO utilizes a vehicle identification number when communicating with back end systems for identifying the vehicle and associated accounts. It would have been obvious to include the VIN when transmitting a request for resetting the calling number so that the MNO can identify the vehicle and associated subscription in performing the requested operation;
See e.g. [0140] “...the API of the vehicle OEM (first user) with device identifier, for example, a vehicle ID such as VIN ...”)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Luft’s provisioning scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning of TCUs (i.e. reconfiguration or reattachment in order to restore connectivity and ensure reliable operation)
Regarding claim 5, Johnson in view of Luft disclose the vehicle terminal of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to change the current calling number to the reset calling number, and request a service from the service server using the reset calling number and a vehicle identification number (Per the combined solution of Independent claim 1, it would have been obvious to request a service using the reset calling number (MSISDN) and a vehicle identification number (VIN) so that the service can identify the requesting device to fulfill a service of attaching to a new network as taught by Luft;
see e.g. Luft [0072] In various aspects of this disclosure, the instruction for roaming (by means of messages 606 and 608)--which may include an instruction to establish connectivity between the visited network and the mobile station;
See e.g. Johnson [0140] “...the API of the vehicle OEM (first user) with device identifier, for example, a vehicle ID such as VIN ...”)
. Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Luft’s provisioning scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning of TCUs (i.e. reconfiguration or reattachment in order to restore connectivity and ensure reliable operation)
Regarding claim 6. Johnson discloses a method of resetting a calling number preset for a vehicle terminal disposed at a vehicle, the method comprising:
transmitting, from the vehicle terminal to a communication management server, a request for resetting a calling number assigned to the vehicle terminal network (Johnson ([0155], Fig. 14b]) teaches a vehicle TCU communicating with an MNO server (i.e. communication management server. The TCU participates in a provisioning workflow in which subscription identifiers (MSI/MSISDN) are updated. Updating the MSIDSN (calling number) realizes the necessary request for resetting a calling number .
The Examiner has interpreted MSISDN as the claimed calling number and updating the MSISDN is updating the calling number
The Examiner has interpreted the claimed “communication management server” as a backend server that manages network provisioning, activation, or subscription parameters
[0155] “The rental car company API 1402 updates the IMSI/MSISDN and APN for each of the one or more vehicles on each vehicle TCU via step 1434 and confirms pairing success with the OEM API 1404 via step 1436. The pairing success may be displayed on each of the one or more vehicles' TCU and/or pairing dashboard (UI) at the rental car company via step 1442 and communicated to the PTP server 1406 via step 1438 and MNO API 1408 via step 1440” );
receiving, at the vehicle terminal from the communication management server, a reset calling number (Johsnon; As the update is applied to the TCU, the TCU necessarily receives updated MSISDN data from the backend system which realizes a reset calling number from the communication management server; ([0155], Fig. 14b])); and
changing, by the vehicle terminal, a current calling number to the reset calling number (Johnson; Johnson teaches the MSISDN is updated; [0155] )..
Johnson does not expressly disclose:
requesting, from the vehicle terminal to a service server, a service provided from a service server;
Luft discloses:
receiving, at the vehicle terminal from the service server, a preset type of error code (Luft; Luft teaches the reception of a casual code (i.e. error code
requesting, from the vehicle terminal to a service server, a service provided from a service server(Luft; Luft teaches a service which facilitates a mobile device to connect to a network;
see e.g. [0072] In various aspects of this disclosure, the instruction for roaming (by means of messages 606 and 608)--which may include an instruction to establish connectivity between the visited network and the mobile station--)
receiving, at the vehicle terminal from the service server, a preset type of error code (Luft; Luft teaches the reception of a casual code (i.e. error code;
see e.g. [0072] In various aspects of this disclosure, the instruction for roaming (by means of messages 606 and 608)--which may include an instruction to establish connectivity between the visited network and the mobile station--may be a NAS (Non Access Stratum) Mobility Management Message. By way of example, a network initiated GPRS detach procedure or network initiated IMSI detach procedure could be performed. The detach type information element "re-attach required" with a new inventive cause code "switch to direct roaming" may cause the mobile station to derive K', reset the sequence number (namely, Seq#), and perform a re-attach with K' and Seq#. After a successful AKA-run with these new parameters all other subscription data like operator preferred network may be sent securely to the mobile station. Since K' may be known in the home network 104, the visited network 202 may consider generating a network specific new encryption key (namely, the aforementioned third encryption key) for this temporary subscription between the mobile station 102 and the visited network 202. These features of the instruction for roaming are equally applicable to all other aspects of this disclosure that will follow.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Luft’s provisioning scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning of TCUs (i.e. reconfiguration or reattachment in order to restore connectivity and ensure reliable operation)
Regarding claim 7, Johnson in view of Luft disclose The method of claim 6, wherein requesting a service comprises providing a vehicle identification number of the vehicle while requesting the service using the current calling number(Per the combined solution of Independent claim 1, it would have been obvious to request a service before the cause code or error using the current calling number (MSISDN) and a vehicle identification number (VIN) so that the service can attempt to fulfill a service of attaching to a new network as taught by Luft;
see e.g. Luft [0072] In various aspects of this disclosure, the instruction for roaming (by means of messages 606 and 608)--which may include an instruction to establish connectivity between the visited network and the mobile station;
See e.g. Johnson [0140] “...the API of the vehicle OEM (first user) with device identifier, for example, a vehicle ID such as VIN ...”) .
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Luft’s provisioning scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning of TCUs (i.e. reconfiguration or reattachment in order to restore connectivity and ensure reliable operation)
Regarding claim 9, Johnson in view of Luft disclosed The method of claim 7, wherein sending a request for resetting comprises providing the vehicle identification number of the vehicle. ((Johnson; Johnson teaches that the MNO utilizes a vehicle identification number when communicating with back end systems for identifying the vehicle and associated accounts. It would have been obvious to include the VIN when transmitting a request for resetting the calling number so that the MNO can identify the vehicle and associated subscription in performing the requested operation;
See e.g. [0140] “...the API of the vehicle OEM (first user) with device identifier, for example, a vehicle ID such as VIN ...”)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Luft’s provisioning scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning of TCUs (i.e. reconfiguration or reattachment in order to restore connectivity and ensure reliable operation)
Regarding claim 10, Johnson in view of Luft discloses The method of claim 9, further comprising, by the communication management server:
searching a vehicle identification number-calling number look-up table based on the vehicle identification number (It would have been obvious to implement said feature because Johnson teaches provisioning and updating of calling number (MSISDN) for a vehicle terminal and associates subscriber information with the vehicle identifier (VIN). In that context, one of ordinary skill in the art would use a look up table storing VIN-MSISDND associations and search the table using the VIN to identify the prestored calling number corresponding to that vehicle during provisioning or reconfiguration) , and
providing a prestored reset calling number matching the vehicle identification number to the vehicle terminal (It would have been obvious to implement said feature because Johnson teaches updating and reassigning calling numbers (MSISDN) for a vehicle during provisioning, and Luft teaches network attachment for network connectivity. In that context, one of ordinary skill in the art would store a reset calling number corresponding to the VIN, match that reset calling number to the identified vehicle via the VIN, and provide the matched reset calling number to the vehicle terminal so that the terminal can complete provisioning and reattach to the network using subscriber information associated with that VIN).
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Luft’s provisioning scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning of TCUs (i.e. reconfiguration or reattachment in order to restore connectivity and ensure reliable operation)
Regarding claim 19, claim 19 comprises the same and/or similar subject matter as claim 1 and is considered an obvious variation; therefore it is rejected under the same rationale.
Claims 2 and 8 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Johnson in view of Luft and in further view of Wong (US 20030083068)
Regarding claim 2., Johsnon in view of Luft disclose the vehicle terminal of claim 1, Johnson does not expressly disclose wherein the preset type of error code includes an error code corresponding to a calling number mismatch.
Wong discloses:
wherein the preset type of error code includes an error code corresponding to a calling number mismatch (Wong; Wong teaches an HLR compares a selected MSISDN to assigned or unavailable MSISDN resources and returns an error when a match is found which corresponds to an error code for calling a number mismatch;
see e.g. [0026] “... A first-selected registration MSISDN (#1) is communicated along with the IMSI to the HLR 102. The HLR 102 compares MSISDN #1 to one or more already assigned or otherwise unavailable registration MSISDN resources 306. The resources 306 which are already assigned or otherwise unavailable may be stored in various fashions, including but not limited to lists, tables, and data structures in volatile and/or non-volatile memory. When a match is found between MSISDN #1 and an assigned or unavailable resource 306, an error is returned from the HLR 102 to the provisioning system 104. The provisioning system 104 makes another selection from the set 302 (MSISDN #2) and communicates this selection to the HLR computer”).
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective fling date of the claimed invention to incorporate Wong’s scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Luft’s provisioning scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning of TCUs (i.e. reconfiguration or reattachment in order to restore connectivity and ensure reliable operation)
Regarding claim 8, Johnson in view of Luft disclose the method of claim 7, Johnson does not expressly disclose further comprising, by the service server:
searching for a prestored calling number based on the vehicle identification number in response to receiving a service request;
comparing the current calling number with the prestored calling number;
Wong discloses:
searching for a prestored calling number (Wong;
see e.g. [0026] “... A first-selected registration MSISDN (#1) is communicated along with the IMSI to the HLR 102. The HLR 102 compares MSISDN #1 to one or more already assigned or otherwise unavailable registration MSISDN resources 306. The resources 306 which are already assigned or otherwise unavailable may be stored in various fashions, including but not limited to lists, tables, and data structures in volatile and/or non-volatile memory ...”),
comparing the current calling number with the prestored calling number (Wong;
see e.g. [0026] “... A first-selected registration MSISDN (#1) is communicated along with the IMSI to the HLR 102. The HLR 102 compares MSISDN #1 to one or more already assigned or otherwise unavailable registration MSISDN resources 306. The resources 306 which are already assigned or otherwise unavailable may be stored in various fashions, including but not limited to lists, tables, and data structures in volatile and/or non-volatile memory ...”)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Wong’s comparison scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning.
Johnson in view of Luft and in further view of Wong disclose:
searching for a prestored calling number based on the vehicle identification number in response to receiving a service request (The combined solution per Wong’s searching for a prestored calling number and Johnson’s VIN data;
See e.g. Johnson [0140] “...the API of the vehicle OEM (first user) with device identifier, for example, a vehicle ID such as VIN ...”)
transmitting the error code in response to determining that the current calling number and the prestored calling number do not match (The combined solution per Wong provides for utilizing Lufts error codes once it determined there is a mismatch).
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Luft’s provisioning scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning of TCUs (i.e. reconfiguration or reattachment in order to restore connectivity and ensure reliable operation)
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Johnson in view of Luft and in further view of Raleigh (US 20140273965)
Regarding claim 4, Johnson in view of Luft disclose the vehicle terminal of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to, based on the error code being received, reset the modem and transmit, to the communication management server using the modem, the request for resetting the calling number (Per the combined solution of Independent claim1, it would have been obvious to reset the modem in response to receiving updated subscriber information, such as a reset calling number, so that the device can apply new credentials and reestablish network connectivity.
As evidence of the rationale above, Raleigh discloses:
reset the modem (Raleigh; Raleigh teaches resetting the modem upon obtaining new credentials to enable the device to use the updated subscription information;
See e.g. [0073] “... resetting the modem to enable device 100 to use the new credentials ...”
See e.g. [0023] In a wireless network system, mobile devices authenticate with the network system based on credentials that are stored on the device and verified by the network system. Examples of credentials include, but are not limited to, a phone number, an international mobile subscriber identifier (IMSI), a mobile station identifier (MSID), a mobile station international ISDN number (MSISDN), a subscriber information module (SIM) ... “)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Raleigh’s reset modem scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Luft’s provisioning scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning of TCUs (i.e. reconfiguration or reattachment in order to restore connectivity and ensure reliable operation)
Claims 11-13 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Johnson in view of Luft and in further view of Huuhtanen (US 20170041203 )
Regarding claim 11, Johnson in view of Luft disclose the method of claim 7, further comprising, before the requesting, by the vehicle terminal, a service to be provided from a service server:
transmitting, by the service server, a request for resetting a calling number related to the vehicle terminal to the communication management server in response to a service subscription/activation request (It would have been obvious to implement said feature because in view of the provisioning and activation context already established in independent claim 8, one of ordinary skill in the art would initiate a reset operation through a service side trigger such that the service server transmits a request to the communication management server, as a predictable coordination between service layer logic and network management functions during subscription activation workflow);
resetting, by the communication management server, a calling number assigned to the vehicle terminal in response to the resetting request(It would have been obvious to implement said feature because in view of the provisioning and activation context already established in independent claim 8, one of ordinary skill in the art would have the communication management server perform the reset and assign a calling number in response to the request, as this reflects the role of a management entity responsible for maintaining and updating subscriber identifiers); and
providing, by the communication management server, the reset calling number to the service server (It would have been obvious to implement said feature because following reassignment, one of ordinary skill in the art would return the reset calling number to the requesting service server, as a predictable feedback step required to synchronize service-layer operations with update subscriber information).
As evidence of the rationale above Huuhtanen discloses:
service activation (
[0171] 320 The activation makes conversion of generic technical services into network element specific operations defined in the capability library. The internal operation messages derived from the service activation or deactivation request can be atomic targeted to a single network element or a flow of operations sending multiple messages touching multiple network elements (workflow that defines how operation for a technical service is executed). The conversion from vendor independent service operation into vendor specific task template can be made in the capability library for example through rules, lookup tables or repository that contains transformation data. Or the service can refer to a workflow in the capability library that generates all the messages into multiple network elements and defines the order of messages that all together fulfil the technical service on network layer.
[0200] In operation, the order management component 410 receives a provisioning or activation requests from the business support system 400 and processes the received requests according to the generic logic 412. The processing is arranged such that the generic logic 412 calls the operation specific functionalities in the operation specific functionalities module 414 whenever needed. Hence, in this embodiment, the generic logic 412 uses data in the service repository 450 only through the operation specific functionalities in the operation specific functionalities module 414. This hierarchy of logic and functions facilitates both the maintenance of the system and also the reconfiguration of the generic logic whenever needed. By means of this configuration, the system can perform a request-specific series of operations based on the received request and the data from the service repository without the need of programming specific individual workflows for each different service activation, deactivation and modification situation possible in the telecommunications network.)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Huuhtanen’s workflow. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implanting a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Luft’s provisioning scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning of TCUs (i.e. reconfiguration or reattachment in order to restore connectivity and ensure reliable operation)
Regarding claim 12, Johnson in view of Luft and in further view of Huuhtanen discloses the method of claim 11, wherein transmitting a request for resetting a calling number related to the vehicle terminal comprises providing the vehicle identification number of the vehicle (It would have been obvious to implement said feature because in the context of Johnson, one of ordinary skill in the art would include the vehicle identification number (VIN) as a parameter in the reset request, as Johnson teaches use of the VIN as the vehicle subscriber information, and including such identifier in a request is a predictable way to ensure the request is applied to the correct vehicle during provisioning or configuration), and
resetting a calling number comprises matching the reset calling number with the vehicle identification number and storing the matched reset calling number and vehicle identification number by the communication management server (It would have been obvious to implement said feature because in the same provisioning context, one of ordinary skill in the art would match the reset calling number with the corresponding VIN and store the association as Johsnon teaches managing subscriber identifiers in association with a device and Luft teaches resetting/reassigning the calling number, such that maintaining a matched and storing relationship between the identifier and the reassigned calling number is a predictable data management operation required for subsequent retrieval and use).
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Luft’s provisioning scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning of TCUs (i.e. reconfiguration or reattachment in order to restore connectivity and ensure reliable operation)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Huuhtanen’s workflow. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implanting a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning
Regarding claim 13, Johnson in view of Luft and in further view of Huuhtanen disclose the method of claim 11, further comprising, by the service server, matching the reset calling number provided from the communication management server with the vehicle identification number and storing the matched reset calling number and vehicle identification number (It would have been obvious to implement said feature because following receipt of the reset calling number at the service server, one of ordinary skill in the art would match the reset calling number with the vehicle number (VIN) and store the association, as Johnson teaches maintain identifier relationships for a vehicle and Luft teaches reassignment of the calling number, such that performing the matching and storing at the service-side entity is a predictable extension of maintaining synchronized subscriber information across system components)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Luft’s provisioning scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning of TCUs (i.e. reconfiguration or reattachment in order to restore connectivity and ensure reliable operation)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Huuhtanen’s workflow. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implanting a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Johnson in view of Luft and in further view of Zaus (US 20230284129)
Regarding claim 14, Johnson discloses a system configured to reset a calling number assigned to a vehicle terminal disposed at a vehicle, the system comprising:
a communication management server configured to:
based on a request for resetting a calling number being received from the vehicle terminal, reset a calling number assigned to the vehicle terminal (Johnson; see e.g. [0155])), and
provide the reset calling number to the vehicle terminal(Johnson; see e.g. [0155]),
Johnson does not expressly disclose:
a service server configured to:
based on the service request being received from the vehicle terminal, determine validity of a service, and
based on a determination that the service request is invalid, transmit a preset type of error code to the vehicle terminal;
Luft discloses:
a service server configured to :
based on the service request being received from the vehicle terminal, determine validity of a service request (Luft; Luft discloses that when a service provisioning procedure is unsuccessful a cause code is generated, thereby indicating that the request could not be fulfilled. One of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that generating such a cause code necessarily requires evaluating whether the request can be successfully processed, i.e., determining validity of the service request; see e.g. [0072]), and
based on a determination that the service request is invalid, transmit a preset type of error code to the vehicle terminal (Luft; Luft further discloses transmitting a preset type of error code to the vehicle terminal as evidenced by the cause code generated when the request/connection sate is invalid and corrective action is required; see e.g. [0072]);
Johnson in view of Luft discloses:
wherein the vehicle terminal is configured to, based on the error code being received from the service server, transmit a request for resetting the calling number to the communication management server, and change a current calling number to the reset calling number provided from the communication management server (The combined solution as Johnson teaches transmitting a request to reset a calling number and updating the calling number at the vehicle terminal. In view of Luft’s teaching of generating responses (including error conditions) based on request evaluation, the combined solution provides for a response (e.g., an error code) as a trigger condition for initiating the reset request in Johnson)
As evidence of the rationale above Zaus discloses:
based on the service request being received from the vehicle terminal, determine validity of a service (Zaus; Zaus teaches that when a service provisioning procedure is not successful, an error code or cause code is generated, thereby evidencing that service request outcome (e.g., validity or invalidity) are represented using predefined codes;
see e.g. [0071] “... if the service provisioning procedure is not successful, the EEC 240 may store an indication of failure such as, but not limited to, an error code or a cause code. If the service provisioning procedure is successful, the EEC 240 may store an indication of success ...”)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Zaus’ scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning
Regarding claim 15, Johnson in view of Luft and in further view of Zaus discloses the system of claim 14, wherein the vehicle terminal is configured to provide a vehicle identification number of the vehicle while requesting a service from the service server using the current calling number (Per the combined solution of Independent claim 14, it would have been obvious to request a service before the cause code or error using the current calling number (MSISDN) and a vehicle identification number (VIN) so that the service can attempt to fulfill a service of attaching to a new network as taught by Luft;
see e.g. Luft [0072] In various aspects of this disclosure, the instruction for roaming (by means of messages 606 and 608)--which may include an instruction to establish connectivity between the visited network and the mobile station;
See e.g. Johnson [0140] “...the API of the vehicle OEM (first user) with device identifier, for example, a vehicle ID such as VIN ...”).
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Luft’s provisioning scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning of TCUs (i.e. reconfiguration or reattachment in order to restore connectivity and ensure reliable operation)
Regarding claim 17, Johnson in view of Luft and in further view of Zaus disclose the system of claim 14, wherein the vehicle terminal is configured to provide a vehicle identification number of the vehicle while sending a request for resetting the calling number to the communication management server (Johnson; Johnson teaches that the MNO utilizes a vehicle identification number when communicating with back end systems for identifying the vehicle and associated accounts. It would have been obvious to include the VIN when transmitting a request for resetting the calling number so that the MNO can identify the vehicle and associated subscription in performing the requested operation;
See e.g. [0140] “...the API of the vehicle OEM (first user) with device identifier, for example, a vehicle ID such as VIN ...”)
, and
wherein the communication management server is configured to:
search a vehicle identification number-calling number look-up table based on the vehicle identification number (It would have been obvious to implement said feature because Johnson teaches provisioning and updating of calling number (MSISDN) for a vehicle terminal and associates subscriber information with the vehicle identifier (VIN). In that context, one of ordinary skill in the art would use a look up table storing VIN-MSISDND associations and search the table using the VIN to identify the prestored calling number corresponding to that vehicle during provisioning or reconfiguration), and
provide a prestored reset calling number matching the vehicle identification number to the vehicle terminal (It would have been obvious to implement said feature because Johnson teaches updating and reassigning calling numbers (MSISDN) for a vehicle during provisioning, and Luft teaches network attachment for network connectivity. In that context, one of ordinary skill in the art would store a reset calling number corresponding to the VIN, match that reset calling number to the identified vehicle via the VIN, and provide the matched reset calling number to the vehicle terminal so that the terminal can complete provisioning and reattach to the network using subscriber information associated with that VIN).
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Luft’s provisioning scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning of TCUs (i.e. reconfiguration or reattachment in order to restore connectivity and ensure reliable operation)
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Johnson in view of Luft and in further view of Zaus and in further view of Wong
Regarding claim 16, Johnson in view of Luft and in further view of Zaus disclose the system of claim 15, Johnson does not expressly, wherein the service server is configured to:
search for a prestored calling number based on the vehicle identification number
compare the current calling number with the prestored calling number, and
transmit, based on the current calling number and the prestored calling number not being identical, the error code
Wong discloses:
search for a prestored calling number (Wong;
see e.g. [0026] “... A first-selected registration MSISDN (#1) is communicated along with the IMSI to the HLR 102. The HLR 102 compares MSISDN #1 to one or more already assigned or otherwise unavailable registration MSISDN resources 306. The resources 306 which are already assigned or otherwise unavailable may be stored in various fashions, including but not limited to lists, tables, and data structures in volatile and/or non-volatile memory ...”)
compare the current calling number with the prestored calling number(Wong;
see e.g. [0026] “... A first-selected registration MSISDN (#1) is communicated along with the IMSI to the HLR 102. The HLR 102 compares MSISDN #1 to one or more already assigned or otherwise unavailable registration MSISDN resources 306. The resources 306 which are already assigned or otherwise unavailable may be stored in various fashions, including but not limited to lists, tables, and data structures in volatile and/or non-volatile memory ...”)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Wong’s comparison scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning.
Johnson in view of Luft and in further view of Wong disclose:
searching for a prestored calling number based on the vehicle identification number in response to receiving a service request (The combined solution per Wong’s searching for a prestored calling number and Johnson’s VIN data;
See e.g. Johnson [0140] “...the API of the vehicle OEM (first user) with device identifier, for example, a vehicle ID such as VIN ...”)
transmit, based on the current calling number and the prestored calling number not being identical, the error code (The combined solution per Wong provides for utilizing Lufts error codes once it determined there is a mismatch).
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Luft’s provisioning scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning of TCUs (i.e. reconfiguration or reattachment in order to restore connectivity and ensure reliable operation)
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Johnson in view of Luft and in further view of Zaus in view of Kerber (US 20160134476)
Regarding claim 18, Johnson in view of Luft and in further view of Zaus disclose the system of claim 14, further comprising a user terminal configured to transmit, to the service server, a request for service subscription/activation for the vehicle terminal (The combined solution as Luft provides for activation of a service network for a vehicle terminal),
wherein the service server is configured to, based on the service subscription/activation request, transmit, to the communication management server, a request for resetting the calling number related to the vehicle terminal (The combined solution as Johnson teaches resetting a calling number (e.g. MSISDN) via a request to the communication management server. Luft teaches service activation of a network based on a service request. When the service activation in Luft does not successfully proceed the system transmits a request to reset the calling number as taught by Johnson.), and
wherein the communication management server is configured to, based on the resetting request from the service server, reset a calling number assigned to the vehicle terminal, and provide the reset calling number to the service server (The combined solution as the communication management server provides the updated calling number following the request generated from the service activation process).
As evidence of the rationale above, Kerber teaches:
service server and request (Kerber; Kerber teaches a workflow associated with servers based on triggers and parameters within given system. One of ordinary skill in the art would be inclined to utilize said scheme to perform the above processing;
0126] The central interface 325 processes the data indicative of the change received via data input interface 113 as follows. [0127] Storage of the data indicative of the change [0128] All data indicating the change, classification and attributes are stored in a central database of the central management module 111 [0129] This covers also status when processing is executed [0130] Dependency and conflict analysis (e.g. between different elements of the second configuration hardware and software configurations etc.) may be triggered individually by type of the change [0131] Create a target entity e.g. release system 103 (e.g. change for target landscape containing change documentation and workflow) [0132] Example: data transports in the production system 101 are analyzed for sequence dependencies and conflicts with the release system [0133] Trigger of an auto reaction [0134] If applicable, based on predefined reaction conditions (the target user is adapted to using emails) the type of the change (or the components affected by the change), auto reaction methods can be triggered which may covers automatic execution and/or notification purposes
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Kerber’s workflow. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implanting a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of workflow management.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Luft’s provisioning scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of provisioning of TCUs (i.e. reconfiguration or reattachment in order to restore connectivity and ensure reliable operation)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Jain (US 20180206275) : Explains that cause codes are error codes ([0090])
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to TODD L. BARKER whose telephone number is (571) 270 0257. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday, 7:30am to 5:00pm.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner's supervisor Vivek Srivastava can be reached on (571) 272 7304.
/TODD L BARKER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2449
Prosecution Insights