DETAILED ACTION
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
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.
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) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by EDGE et al. (US 2021/0144539 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 15, EDGE et al. teach a method/a first network node, comprising: at least one processor configured to: performing, by a first network node, location verification of a wireless communication device (see fig. 8A and par. 0145: the AMF 808 may determine and verify the UE 802 country—e.g. using a location of UE 802 received at stage 16 or by obtaining a location of UE 802 using LMF 810 (not shown in FIG. 8A), wherein whether to release a connection with the wireless communication device, is determined by a second network node (see fig. 8A and par. 0144: if the UE country determined at step 14 is not supported by the sNB 806 or does not match the country for the selected PLMN, the sNB 806 may return an RRC Reject message to UE 802. The RRC Reject message may indicate the country (e.g. using an MCC) that the UE 802 is located in as determined at stage 14 or may simply indicate that the UE 802 is not located in a country for the selected PLMN. If an RRC Reject message is received, the UE 802 may restart the procedure at stage 8 (e.g. to verify the UE country) or stage 9 (e.g. using the country received at stage 15)).
Regarding claims 2 and 16, EDGE et al. teach wherein the first network node comprises at least one node of a core network (CN), and the second network node comprises a wireless communication node of a radio access network (RAN); or the second network node comprises the at least one node of the CN, and the first network node comprises the wireless communication node of the RAN; or the first network node and the second network node comprise the at least one node of the CN; or the first network node and the second network node comprise the wireless communication node of the RAN (see fig. 8A and pars. 0144-0146: the UE 802 location and country are fully verified by the sNB 806 (corresponding to a wireless communication node of a RAN), the AMF 808(corresponding to a node of CN). Otherwise, the AMF 808 may determine and verify the UE 802 country (corresponding to )-e.g. using a location of UE 802 received at stage 16 or by obtaining a location of UE 802 using LMF 810).
Regarding claims 3 and 17, EDGE et al. also teach at least one of: performing, by the at least one node of the CN, the location verification; determining, by the at least one node of the CN, to release or not to release the connection with the wireless communication device, according to the location verification; sending, by the at least one node of the CN, to the wireless communication node, an indication to release or not to release the connection with the wireless communication device; or sending, by the at least one node of the CN, to the wireless communication node, information supporting the indication to release or not to release the connection, wherein the wireless communication node is configured to release or not to release the connection, according to at least one of: the indication, or the supporting information (see fig. 8A and pars. 0144-0146).
Regarding claims 4 and 18, EDGE et al. also teach wherein to release the connection comprises at least one of: to release a radio resource control (RRC) connection with the wireless communication device, or to reject access from the wireless communication device (see par. 0144).
Regarding claims 5 and 19, EDGE et al. also teach at least one of: performing, by the at least one node of the CN, the location verification; or sending, by the at least one node of the CN, to the wireless communication node, an indication of reliability of the wireless communication device, according to the location verification, wherein the wireless communication node is configured to at least one of: determine to release or not to release the connection with the wireless communication device, according to the indication of reliability; or send a decision of the wireless communication node to release or not to release the connection, to the at least one node of the CN (see fig. 8A and pars. 0144-0146).
Regarding claims 6 and 20, EDGE et al. also teach at least one of: performing, by the at least one node of the CN, the location verification; determining, by the at least one node of the CN, to perform or not to perform the location verification another time, according to the location verification; sending, by the at least one node of the CN, to the wireless communication node, a first indication to perform or not to perform the location verification another time; or sending, by the at least one node of the CN, to the wireless communication node, a second indication to release or not to release the connection with the wireless communication device, when a number of times the location verification is performed exceeds a threshold (see fig. 8A and pars. 0144-0146).
Regarding claim 7, EDGE et al. also teach at least one of: performing, by the wireless communication node, the location verification according to at least one of: a criteria of the location verification, assistance information measured by the wireless communication node, or assistance information received from the wireless communication device; determining, by the wireless communication node according to the location verification, to release or not to release the connection with the wireless communication device; sending, by the wireless communication node to the at least one node of the CN, at least one of: a decision of the wireless communication node to release or not to release the connection, or information supporting to release or not to release the connection; sending, by the wireless communication node to the at least one node of the CN, a reliability of the wireless communication device; or storing, by the wireless communication node, the reliability of the wireless communication device (see fig. 8A and pars. 0144-0146).
Regarding claim 8, EDGE et al. also teach at least one of: performing, by the wireless communication node, the location verification according to at least one of: a criteria of the location verification, assistance information measured by the wireless communication node, or assistance information received from the wireless communication device; determining, by the wireless communication node according to the location verification, to perform or not to perform the location verification another time; sending, by the wireless communication node to the at least one node of the CN, at least one of: a decision of the wireless communication node to perform or not to perform the location verification another time, or information supporting to perform or not to perform the location verification another time; sending, by the wireless communication node to the at least one node of the CN, a reliability of the wireless communication device; storing, by the wireless communication node, the reliability of the wireless communication device; or determining, by the wireless communication node, to release or not to release the connection with the wireless communication device, when a number of times the location verification is performed exceeds a threshold (see fig. 8A and pars. 0144-0146).
Regarding claim 9, EDGE et al. also teach wherein the criteria of the location verification is pre-configured at the wireless communication node, or is received from the at least one node of the CN (see fig. 8A and pars. 0144-0146).
Regarding claim 10, EDGE et al. also teach wherein the assistance information measured by the wireless communication node comprises at least one of: a round trip time, an uplink reference signal time difference of arrival, an angle of arrival, or a reference signal received power (see par. 0143: sNB 806 and/or SV 804 may obtain uplink (UL) measurements of signals transmitted by UE 802, e.g. UL measurements of RSRP, RSRQ, Rx-Tx and/or AOA which may be used to determine or help determine the location of UE 802 at stage 14. In some implementations, sNB 806 may use knowledge of a coverage area for the radio cell selected at stage 9 or a coverage area of a radio beam for the radio cell selected at stage 9 to determine or help determine the location of UE 802 at stage 14. The sNB 806 may map the location to a country and verify the country is supported by the sNB 806 and matches the country of the selected PLMN indicated at stage 13).
Regarding claim 11, EDGE et al. also teach wherein the assistance information received from the wireless communication device comprises at least one of: a time gap between a receiving downlink reference signal and a transmitting uplink reference signal, a coherence level between different uplink reference signals, a tracking area (TA) value, a location of the wireless communication device, a trajectory of the wireless communication device, a mobility status of the wireless communication device, a time instance corresponding to any of above, or a capability or type of the wireless communication device (see par. 0143: NB 806 may use knowledge of a coverage area for the radio cell selected at stage 9 or a coverage area of a radio beam for the radio cell selected at stage 9 to determine or help determine the location of UE 802 at stage 14. The sNB 806 may map the location to a country and verify the country is supported by the sNB 806 and matches the country of the selected PLMN indicated at stage 13. In some implementations, the sNB 806 may further determine a fixed serving cell and/or a fixed serving Tracking Area (TA) for UE 802, e.g., by mapping a UE 802 location to a Cell ID and/or TA Code (TAC), for the selected PLMN indicated at stage 12).
Regarding claim 12, EDGE et al. also teach wherein the criteria for the location verification comprises at least one of: a target value range, a target value, a tolerable range of error, or a confidence level, for at least one of: the assistance information measured by the wireless communication node, or the assistance information received from the wireless communication device (see par. 0119: The CBCF 708 determines the fixed cells and/or fixed TAs which are within or overlap with the target area (e.g. by using the geographic definitions configured in the CBCF 708 at stage 713b). The impacted fixed cells (or impacted fixed tracking areas or emergency areas) may comprise fixed cells (and/or fixed tracking areas and/or emergency areas) whose coverage areas (e.g. normal coverage area and/or extended coverage area) are totally within the impact area or are at least partially within the impact area. Other factors, such as the warning type, may also be used to help determine the impacted fixed cells (and/or impacted fixed tracking areas and/or impacted emergency areas)).
Regarding claim 13, EDGE et al. also teach at least one of: assigning, by the wireless communication node, a flag to the wireless communication device according to the reliability; receiving, by the wireless communication node from the at least one node of the CN, the flag for the wireless communication device; receiving, by the wireless communication node from the at least one node of the CN, at least one of: an international mobile equipment identity (IMEI), or an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI); associating, by the wireless communication node, the reliability or the flag with at least one of: the IMEI, the IMSI, a radio network temporary identity (RNTI), or a defined virtual identity (ID); or set, by the wireless communication node, a valid time for the reliability or the flag (see par. 0146: the AMF 808 returns a NAS Registration Accept or NAS Service Accept message to UE 802 via sNB 806. The NAS Registration Accept or NAS Service Accept message to UE 802 may include the fixed serving TA and fixed serving cell, as determined by the sNB 806 in stage 14 or as determined by the AMF 808 or LMF 810 in stage 16; A Registration flag may also be included in the NAS Registration Accept or NAS Service Accept message to indicate if the UE 802 is or is not required to perform a registration update with the serving PLMN for a change of TA after detecting that the UE 802 is no longer in any of the allowed Tas).
Regarding claim 14, EDGE et al. also teach comprising at least one of: assigning, by the at least one node of the CN, a flag to the wireless communication device according to the reliability; receiving, by the at least one node of the CN from the wireless communication node, the flag for the wireless communication device; associating, by the at least one node of the CN, the reliability or the flag with at least one of: an international mobile equipment identity (IMEI), an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI), a radio network temporary identity (RNTI), or a defined virtual identity (ID); or set, by the at least one node of the CN, a valid time for the reliability or the flag (see par. 0146: the AMF 808 returns a NAS Registration Accept or NAS Service Accept message to UE 802 via sNB 806. The NAS Registration Accept or NAS Service Accept message to UE 802 may include the fixed serving TA and fixed serving cell, as determined by the sNB 806 in stage 14 or as determined by the AMF 808 or LMF 810 in stage 16; A Registration flag may also be included in the NAS Registration Accept or NAS Service Accept message to indicate if the UE 802 is or is not required to perform a registration update with the serving PLMN for a change of TA after detecting that the UE 802 is no longer in any of the allowed Tas).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID Q NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-7844. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:00 AM - 3:00 PM.
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/DAVID Q NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643
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