DETAILED ACTION
Applicant’s Application filed on January 13, 2025 has been reviewed.
Claims 1-14, 20-21, 27, 29-31, 34-43 and 46-50 were cancelled in the Preliminary Amendment filed on January 13, 2025.
Claims 15, 17-19, 22-24, 26, 28, 32-33 and 44-45 were amended in the Preliminary Amendment.
Claims 15-19, 23-26, 28, 32-33 and 44-45 have been examined.
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 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.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. EP 22382659.5 , filed on July 12, 2022..
The effective priority date for the subject matter in the pending claims in this application is July 12, 2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on January 13, 2025 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 16-19, 23, 25-26, 28 and 33 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claims 16 and 25, at lines 4-5, “the attachment” should be changed to “[[the]] attachment” and “the establishment” should be changed to “[[the]] establishment”.
In claims 17 and 26, at lines 5-6, “the attachment” should be changed to “[[the]] attachment” and “the establishment” should be changed to “[[the]] establishment”.
In claims 18 and 28, at line 5, “the disconnection” should be changed to “[[the]] disconnection”.
In claim 19, at lines 2-3, “the connection” should be changed to “[[the]] connection”.
In claim 23 and 33, at lines 2-4, “wherein the first network node is an Access and Mobility Management Function, AMF, the second network node is a User Plane Function, UPF, and the terminal device is a User Equipment, UE.” should be changed to “wherein the first network node is an Access and Mobility Management Function[[,]] (AMF), the second network node is a User Plane Function[[,]] (UPF), and the terminal device is a User Equipment[[,]] (UE).”
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 15-17, 19, 22-26, 32-33 and 44-45 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Pan (US 2022/0377598 A1).
With respect to claim 15, Pan teaches A method performed by a terminal device for detecting and handling traffic from relayed or tethered devices in a communications network (a relay UE establish one PDU session with UPF in 5GC for relaying traffic of a remote UE., para. 0398), the method comprising:
obtaining at a terminal device from a first network node network address information for a relayed device (Relay UE's AMF gets Remote UE's SUPI from Remote UE's AUSF. Then Relay UE's AMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed UE-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM using Remote UE's SUPI. Relay UE's AMF could also provide Remote UE's SUPI together with N1 SM container (PDU Session Establishment Request) to Relay UE's SMF, then Relay UE's SMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed QoS profile and Subscribed Session-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM, para. 0094), wherein the terminal device acts as a relay for the relayed device (Relay UE's AMF gets Remote UE's SUPI from Remote UE's AUSF. Then Relay UE's AMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed UE-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM using Remote UE's SUPI. Relay UE's AMF could also provide Remote UE's SUPI together with N1 SM container (PDU Session Establishment Request) to Relay UE's SMF, then Relay UE's SMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed QoS profile and Subscribed Session-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM, para. 0094); and
transmitting from the terminal device toward a second network node network traffic received from the relayed device, wherein the network traffic includes the network address information (a relay UE establish one PDU session with UPF in 5GC for relaying traffic of a remote UE., para. 0398)
wherein the network address information is an IP address, an IP address range or an IP address prefix (when the ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay uses IP PDU session type for Ethernet or Unstructured traffic over PC5 reference point, it locally assigns an IP address/prefix for the Remote UE and use that to encapsulate the data from the Remote UE. For downlink traffic, the ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay decapsulates the traffic from the IP headers and forwards to the corresponding Remote UE via PC5 reference point, para. 0093).
With respect to claim 16, Pan teaches The method of claim 15, further comprising:
receiving at the terminal device from the first network node an indication that the network address information shall be obtained for the relayed devices connected to the terminal device, particularly wherein the indication is transmitted during the attachment or registration of the terminal device with the communications network or during the establishment of a user session with the communications network (during the Registration procedure, Authorization and provisioning is performed for the ProSe UE-to-NW relay(0a) and Remote UE(0b), para. 0086; during registration, the UE gets info if it is authorized to be a Relay. The AMF gets info PLMNs whose UEs can relay data over this Relay UE, para. 0227; during PC5 connection establishment, the Remote UE provides its UE ID to the Relay UE which sends that info to the AMF to get authenticated and authorization, para. 0228); and
initiating at the terminal device the obtaining of the network address information for the relayed devices connected to the terminal device based on the indication (Relay UE's AMF gets Remote UE's SUPI from Remote UE's AUSF. Then Relay UE's AMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed UE-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM using Remote UE's SUPI. Relay UE's AMF could also provide Remote UE's SUPI together with N1 SM container (PDU Session Establishment Request) to Relay UE's SMF, then Relay UE's SMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed QoS profile and Subscribed Session-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM, para. 0094).
With respect to claim 17, Pan teaches The method of claim 15, further comprising:
transmitting from the terminal device to the first network node an indication of the capability of the terminal device to obtain the network address information for relayed devices (the 5GSM Core Network Capability is provided by the UE and handled by SMF, para. 0344), particularly wherein the indication is transmitted during the attachment or registration of the terminal device with the communications network or during the establishment of a user session with the communications network (during the Registration procedure, Authorization and provisioning is performed for the ProSe UE-to-NW relay(0a) and Remote UE(0b), para. 0086; during registration, the UE gets info if it is authorized to be a Relay. The AMF gets info PLMNs whose UEs can relay data over this Relay UE, para. 0227; during PC5 connection establishment, the Remote UE provides its UE ID to the Relay UE which sends that info to the AMF to get authenticated and authorization, para. 0228).
With respect to claim 19, Pan teaches The method of claim 15, wherein the obtaining of the network address information is performed in response to the connection of the relayed device to the terminal device (a relay UE establish one PDU session with UPF in 5GC for relaying traffic of a remote UE., para. 0398).
With respect to claim 22, Pan teaches The method of claim 15, wherein the relayed device is a tethered device connected to the terminal device (a relay UE establish one PDU session with UPF in 5GC for relaying traffic of a remote UE., para. 0398).
With respect to claim 23, Pan teaches The method of claim 15, wherein the first network node is an Access and Mobility Management Function, AMF (he AMF gets info PLMNs whose UEs can relay data over this Relay UE, para. 0227; during PC5 connection establishment, the Remote UE provides its UE ID to the Relay UE which sends that info to the AMF to get authenticated and authorization, para. 0228), the second network node is a User Plane Function, UPF (a relay UE establish one PDU session with UPF in 5GC for relaying traffic of a remote UE., para. 0398), and the terminal device is a User Equipment, UE (a relay UE establish one PDU session with UPF in 5GC for relaying traffic of a remote UE., para. 0398).
With respect to claim 24, Pan teaches A method performed by a first network node for detecting and handling traffic from relayed or tethered devices in a communications network (a relay UE establish one PDU session with UPF in 5GC for relaying traffic of a remote UE., para. 0398), the method comprising:
transmitting from a first network node to a terminal device network address information for a relayed device (Relay UE's AMF gets Remote UE's SUPI from Remote UE's AUSF. Then Relay UE's AMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed UE-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM using Remote UE's SUPI. Relay UE's AMF could also provide Remote UE's SUPI together with N1 SM container (PDU Session Establishment Request) to Relay UE's SMF, then Relay UE's SMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed QoS profile and Subscribed Session-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM, para. 0094), wherein the terminal device acts as a relay for the relayed device (Relay UE's AMF gets Remote UE's SUPI from Remote UE's AUSF. Then Relay UE's AMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed UE-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM using Remote UE's SUPI. Relay UE's AMF could also provide Remote UE's SUPI together with N1 SM container (PDU Session Establishment Request) to Relay UE's SMF, then Relay UE's SMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed QoS profile and Subscribed Session-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM, para. 0094)
wherein the network address information is an IP address, an IP address range or an IP address prefix (when the ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay uses IP PDU session type for Ethernet or Unstructured traffic over PC5 reference point, it locally assigns an IP address/prefix for the Remote UE and use that to encapsulate the data from the Remote UE. For downlink traffic, the ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay decapsulates the traffic from the IP headers and forwards to the corresponding Remote UE via PC5 reference point, para. 0093).
With respect to claim 25, Pan teaches The method of claim 24, further comprising:
transmitting from the first network node to the terminal device an indication that the network address information shall be obtained for the relayed devices connected to the terminal device (during the Registration procedure, Authorization and provisioning is performed for the ProSe UE-to-NW relay(0a) and Remote UE(0b), para. 0086; during registration, the UE gets info if it is authorized to be a Relay. The AMF gets info PLMNs whose UEs can relay data over this Relay UE, para. 0227; during PC5 connection establishment, the Remote UE provides its UE ID to the Relay UE which sends that info to the AMF to get authenticated and authorization, para. 0228), particularly wherein the indication is transmitted during the attachment or registration of the terminal device with the communications network or during the establishment of a user session with the communications network (Relay UE's AMF gets Remote UE's SUPI from Remote UE's AUSF. Then Relay UE's AMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed UE-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM using Remote UE's SUPI. Relay UE's AMF could also provide Remote UE's SUPI together with N1 SM container (PDU Session Establishment Request) to Relay UE's SMF, then Relay UE's SMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed QoS profile and Subscribed Session-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM, para. 0094).
With respect to claim 26, Pan teaches The method of claim 24, further comprising:
receiving at the first network node from the terminal device an indication of the capability of the terminal device to obtain the network address information for relayed devices (the 5GSM Core Network Capability is provided by the UE and handled by SMF, para. 0344), particularly wherein the indication is transmitted during the attachment or registration of the terminal device with the communications network or during the establishment of a user session with the communications network (during the Registration procedure, Authorization and provisioning is performed for the ProSe UE-to-NW relay(0a) and Remote UE(0b), para. 0086; during registration, the UE gets info if it is authorized to be a Relay. The AMF gets info PLMNs whose UEs can relay data over this Relay UE, para. 0227; during PC5 connection establishment, the Remote UE provides its UE ID to the Relay UE which sends that info to the AMF to get authenticated and authorization, para. 0228); and
transmitting from the first network node to a third network node the indication of the capability of the terminal device to obtain the network address information for relayed devices, particularly wherein the indication is transmitted during the establishment of a user session with the communications network (Relay UE's AMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed UE-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM using Remote UE's SUPI. Relay UE's AMF could also provide Remote UE's SUPI together with N1 SM container (PDU Session Establishment Request) to Relay UE's SMF, then Relay UE's SMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed QoS profile and Subscribed Session-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM. Relay UE's AMF and SMF [a third network node] then provides Remote UE's subscription to PCF for QoS decision, para. 0094).
With respect to claim 32, Pan teaches The method of claim 24, wherein the relayed device is a tethered device connected to the terminal device (a relay UE establish one PDU session with UPF in 5GC for relaying traffic of a remote UE., para. 0398).
With respect to claim 33, Pan teaches The method of claim 24, wherein the first network node is an Access and Mobility Management Function, AMF, the third network node is a Session Management Function, SMF, and the terminal device is a User Equipment, UE (a relay UE establish one PDU session with UPF in 5GC for relaying traffic of a remote UE., para. 0398).
With respect to claim 44, Pan teaches An apparatus for detecting and handling traffic from relayed or tethered devices in a communications network, the apparatus comprising a processor and a memory (the relay UE 300 includes a program code 312 stored in the memory 310, para. 0405; The CPU 308 could execute program code 312 to enable the relay UE (i) to establish a first layer-2 link with a first remote UE, (ii) to establish a PDU session with a first network node, para. 0405), the memory containing instructions executable by the processor such that the apparatus is operable to perform the method of operations comprising:
obtain at a terminal device from a first network node network address information for a relayed device (Relay UE's AMF gets Remote UE's SUPI from Remote UE's AUSF. Then Relay UE's AMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed UE-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM using Remote UE's SUPI. Relay UE's AMF could also provide Remote UE's SUPI together with N1 SM container (PDU Session Establishment Request) to Relay UE's SMF, then Relay UE's SMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed QoS profile and Subscribed Session-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM, para. 0094), wherein the terminal device acts as a relay for the relayed device (Relay UE's AMF gets Remote UE's SUPI from Remote UE's AUSF. Then Relay UE's AMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed UE-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM using Remote UE's SUPI. Relay UE's AMF could also provide Remote UE's SUPI together with N1 SM container (PDU Session Establishment Request) to Relay UE's SMF, then Relay UE's SMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed QoS profile and Subscribed Session-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM, para. 0094); and
transmit from the terminal device toward a second network node network traffic received from the relayed device, wherein the network traffic includes the network address information (a relay UE establish one PDU session with UPF in 5GC for relaying traffic of a remote UE., para. 0398)
wherein the network address information is an IP address, an IP address range or an IP address prefix (when the ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay uses IP PDU session type for Ethernet or Unstructured traffic over PC5 reference point, it locally assigns an IP address/prefix for the Remote UE and use that to encapsulate the data from the Remote UE. For downlink traffic, the ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay decapsulates the traffic from the IP headers and forwards to the corresponding Remote UE via PC5 reference point, para. 0093).
With respect to claim 45, Pan teaches An Apparatus apparatus for detecting and handling traffic from relayed or tethered devices in a communications network, the apparatus comprising a processor and a memory (the relay UE 300 includes a program code 312 stored in the memory 310, para. 0405; The CPU 308 could execute program code 312 to enable the relay UE (i) to establish a first layer-2 link with a first remote UE, (ii) to establish a PDU session with a first network node, para. 0405), the memory containing instructions executable by the processor such that the apparatus is operable to perform the method of any one of claims from claim 24 to claim 33operations comprising:
transmit from a first network node to a terminal device network address information for a relayed device (Relay UE's AMF gets Remote UE's SUPI from Remote UE's AUSF. Then Relay UE's AMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed UE-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM using Remote UE's SUPI. Relay UE's AMF could also provide Remote UE's SUPI together with N1 SM container (PDU Session Establishment Request) to Relay UE's SMF, then Relay UE's SMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed QoS profile and Subscribed Session-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM, para. 0094), wherein the terminal device acts as a relay for the relayed device (Relay UE's AMF gets Remote UE's SUPI from Remote UE's AUSF. Then Relay UE's AMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed UE-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM using Remote UE's SUPI. Relay UE's AMF could also provide Remote UE's SUPI together with N1 SM container (PDU Session Establishment Request) to Relay UE's SMF, then Relay UE's SMF retrieves Remote UE's subscribed QoS profile and Subscribed Session-AMBR from Remote UE's UDM, para. 0094)
wherein the network address information is an IP address, an IP address range or an IP address prefix (when the ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay uses IP PDU session type for Ethernet or Unstructured traffic over PC5 reference point, it locally assigns an IP address/prefix for the Remote UE and use that to encapsulate the data from the Remote UE. For downlink traffic, the ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay decapsulates the traffic from the IP headers and forwards to the corresponding Remote UE via PC5 reference point, para. 0093).
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 of this title, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 18 and 28 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pan (US 2022/0377598 A1), hereinafter referred to as Pan, in view of Liao et al. (US 2021/0360742 A1), hereinafter referred to as Liao.
With respect to claim 18, Pan teaches The method of claim 15 as described above,
Pan does not explicitly teach further comprising:
transmitting from the terminal device to the first network node an indication to release the network address information related to the relayed device, particularly wherein the indication is transmitted responsive to the disconnection of the relayed device to the terminal device.
However, Liao teaches
transmitting from the terminal device to the first network node an indication to release the network address information related to the relayed device, particularly wherein the indication is transmitted responsive to the disconnection of the relayed device to the terminal device (the N1 remote UE report message may be sent when the remote UE disconnects from the 5G-RG 104 as relay UE to inform the AMF 602 and the PCF 604 and/or the SMF 606 that the remote user(s) have left., para. 0073; The SMF 718 may be responsible for session management (e.g., session establishment, modify and release, including tunnel maintain between UPF and AN node); UE IP address allocation & management, para. 0101) in order to facilitate the communication with the wireless network as taught by Liao (para. 0118).
Therefore, based on Pan in view of Liao, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teaching of Liao to the method of Pan in order to facilitate the communication with the wireless network as taught by Liao (para. 0118).
With respect to claim 28, Pan teaches The method of claim 24 as described above,
Pan does not explicitly teach further comprising:
receiving at the first network node from the terminal device an indication to release the network address information related to the relayed device, particularly wherein the indication is transmitted responsive to the disconnection of the relayed device to the terminal device; and
transmitting from the first network node to the third network node the indication to release the network address information related to the relayed device.
However, Liao teaches receiving at the first network node from the terminal device an indication to release the network address information related to the relayed device, particularly wherein the indication is transmitted responsive to the disconnection of the relayed device to the terminal device (the N1 remote UE report message may be sent when the remote UE disconnects from the 5G-RG 104 as relay UE to inform the AMF 602 and the PCF 604 and/or the SMF 606 that the remote user(s) have left., para. 0073; The SMF 718 may be responsible for session management (e.g., session establishment, modify and release, including tunnel maintain between UPF and AN node); UE IP address allocation & management, para. 0101); and
transmitting from the first network node to the third network node the indication to release the network address information related to the relayed device (the N1 remote UE report message may be sent when the remote UE disconnects from the 5G-RG 104 as relay UE to inform the AMF 602 and the PCF 604 and/or the SMF 606 that the remote user(s) have left., para. 0073; The SMF 718 may be responsible for session management (e.g., session establishment, modify and release, including tunnel maintain between UPF and AN node); UE IP address allocation & management, para. 0101) in order to facilitate the communication with the wireless network as taught by Liao (para. 0118).
Therefore, based on Pan in view of Liao, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teaching of Liao to the method of Pan in order to facilitate the communication with the wireless network as taught by Liao (para. 0118).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HAO NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2666. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday from 7:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. (EST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joon H. Hwang can be reached on 571-272-4036. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/H.H.N/Examiner, Art Unit 2447
July 25, 2026
/JOON H HWANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2447
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