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 Objections
Claims 1, 5, and 9 are objected to because of the following informalities: Each of claims 1, 5, and 9 recite the limitation “a core network network element” which should be changed to --a core network element--. Claims 1, 5, and 9 each further recite “validity time information of certificate or validity area range of certificate” which should be changed to --validity time information of a certificate or validity area range of the certificate--. Appropriate correction is required.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1-12 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-4, 12-15, and 18 of U.S. Patent No. 12,231,883. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because claims 1-4, 12-15, 18 of the ‘883 patent overlap with, and thus anticipate, respective claims 1-12 of the instant application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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.
Claim(s) 1-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) & (a)(2) as being anticipated by “Voyer” (US 2010/0260145).
Regarding Claim 1:
A network access method, applied to a communications device (Fig. 8a; ¶0271, “FIG. 8a depicts an algorithm executed by the third party 40 when the third party is a mobile terminal”), comprising:
receiving certificate information related to a non-public communication network (¶0287, “At next step S807, the processor 400 builds the certificate by combining the contents of the location request received from the base station BS, information identifying the base station BS, information identifying the third party 40 and signs the combined data with the private key of the base station BS”), wherein the non-public communication network is a network comprising a core network network element (Fig. 1, element 10; ¶0110, “In Long Term Evolution (LTE) network currently under discussion in 3GPP, the network server 10 is named a Mobility Management Entity (MME)”; i.e., the server 10 acts as an MME in a 3GPP (non-public) communication network); and
performing an operation of accessing a first network based on the certificate information related to the non-public communication network (Fig. 6a, step 604 based on step 601; ¶0205, “At step S604, the processor 200 commands the transfer, to the base station BS, of a command message for enabling the transmission of radio signals transferred by the base station BS in the cell 15 of the base station BS”),
wherein the first network is a network supporting a non-public communication service (¶0107, “Such wireless area 15 will be called hereinafter a cell 15 managed by the base station BS or a cell 15 of the base station BS”);
wherein the certificate information related to the non-public communication network comprises at least one of validity time information of certificate (¶0254, “The certificate comprises at least the identifier of the third party 40, the identifier of the base station BS, a timestamp and a signature”; ¶0256, “The processor 200 checks if the timestamp is not obsolete and if the timestamp is too old, the certificate is not considered as valid”) or validity area range information of certificate (¶0186, “A certificate is considered as valid, if the identifier of base station BS included in the certificate is the same than the identifier the base station BS used to previously authenticate itself to the network”).
Regarding Claim 2:
The method according to claim 1, wherein the certificate information related to the non-public communication network further comprises at least one of the following:
dedicated security information (¶0185, “The certificate comprises at least the identifier of the third party 40, the identifier of the base station BS and a signature. As example, the third party 40 generates the signature using its Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) key and information comprised in the certificate”), information of non-public communication network, information of non-public communication service application, or dedicated access control information.
Regarding Claim 3:
The method according to claim 1, wherein the validity area range information comprises any one of the following: a tracking area (TA) identifier, a network element identifier of a radio access network (RAN), and a cell identifier (¶0186, “A certificate is considered as valid, if the identifier of base station BS included in the certificate is the same than the identifier the base station BS used to previously authenticate itself to the network”).
Regarding Claim 4:
The method according to claim 2, wherein the information of non-public communication network comprises any one of the following: a non-public communication network identifier (¶0186, “A certificate is considered as valid, if the identifier of base station BS included in the certificate is the same than the identifier the base station BS used to previously authenticate itself to the network”), non-public communication network type information, a public land mobile network (PLMN) identifier of the non-public communication network, service area information of the non- public communication network, and information of non-public communication network application.
Regarding Claims 5-12:
Communication device claims 5-8 and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium claims 9-12 each correspond to respective method claims 1-4 above, and contain no further limitations. Therefore claims 5-8 and 9-12 are each rejected by applying the same rationale used to reject claims 1-4 above, respectively.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL B POTRATZ whose telephone number is (571)270-5329. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 10 A.M. - 6 P.M. CST.
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/DANIEL B POTRATZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2491
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